Naruto: The Call of Mana
by Nenacu
Summary: Called by something ages old, Naruto will find a sleeping power at a young age, and grow to become the champion of a Goddess. The power of Mana flows through the elemental countries, once known as Fa'Diel. Naruto/World of Mana xover. Naruhina Naruino.
1. Chapter 1: The Goddess Speaks

Yo! Nenacu here with a new fanfic idea. It may be kinda crappy, but it got into my head, so I wrote it down. Yes, I will still be working on, and updating TOLaD, don't worry about that. I had to get this out of my head though, it was driving me a little insane. If the idea doesn't fly with you guys, I may or may not continue. If you like it, I'll try to keep it going. Ask me questions about how this world works, please. I need to find any holes in the physics of this world. I'm thinking that this won't be too heavy on the romance. Not like what TOLaD's gonna be when the harem really gets going. However, there will be a very small harem in this one. NaruxHinaxIno. Odd combination, I know, but I think I can swing it. The rating will be at M. Why? Because I tend to write rather gore-filled fights of late, and I do it to be safe.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything as awesome as Naruto, or the World of Mana. Much as I would like to.

On with the show!

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**Chapter: 1 The Goddess Speaks.**

**_Nine centuries ago, the Mana tree burned to ashes. The power of Mana lived on in Mana stones, enchanted instruments, and artifacts. Sages fought each other for control of these last remnants of Mana._**

**_Then, after a hundred years of war, as the power of Mana began to wane, those who sought it grew scarce, and the world returned to peace._**

**_After that, mankind grew afraid to desire. Their hearts filled with empty emotions, and they grew estranged from my hands. They turned their eyes away from my infinite power, and were troubled by their petty disputes._**

**_Remember me! Need me! I can provide you with everything! I am love. Find me, and walk beside me._**

**_I am the light. I am the darkness. Half of me is what you have fought in the past. I create, I destroy, and I create again. I am love. Not all of me is just. Not all of me is pure. That is only half of myself. Those who desire my other half cross their swords. People's freedom is lost, and my truth is buried. I shall show you my darkness. You must defeat me. You will become a hero. Open the path to those who search for me...._**

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"I had the strangest dream... Now that I think about it, that's what set everything in motion. It was like I saw the history of the world through the eyes of those that had influenced it... A boy named Keldric, his friend and love, a girl named Ritzia. The seed of a legendary tree, a young spirit, and a holy blade. This was the first of my dreams.

What happened in between is of little consequence to my tale. What you do need to know, is how this great land, known as the elemental countries, came to exist. In a time long ago, the world known as Fa'Diel was at war with itself. The result was that important places in the world were sealed into artifacts and scattered. One such artifact released itself at the whim of a greater power. One who would be this power's champion and savior. Everything that was known about this champion has been lost by history. Name, gender, motivation, everything. This champion traveled the world, helping all those who crossed its path. It led the people back into the arms of the Mana Goddess by action alone, and when the Goddess was once again strong enough, the great Tree of Mana reappeared. Her champion scaled the tree, and communed with her in the Sanctuary. There, they did battle, the champion succeeded in defeating the dark side of the Goddess, returning her blessings to the world.

The world was forever changed by the journey of this champion, and Fa'Diel prospered. The spirits of mana, Undine, Salamander, Gnome, Jinn, Shade, Wisp, Dryad, and Aura, spread throughout the world, blessing those they favored with the ability to tap into their powers to control their specific element. It was long before the first Great Shinobi war, that the Mana Tree was once again cut down. Nobody but the Goddess knows the reason why. This is the world that I was born into, and the world that I must protect. Who am I you may ask? Naruto. Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto. Let me tell you how I got where I am today...

My story begins shortly after I was born. My mother, Kushina Usumaki, forced into early labor due to the stress of the attack on Konoha, my home town, by a powerful demon, died shortly after my birth. My father, Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage, leader of our village, took me from the hospital. He used me as a medium to seal the demon away, sacrificing his own soul in the process. Thus, I grew up alone and tormented by those who saw me as something I thought long since dead.."

Running, always running, the young blonde could barely see through the tears in his eyes. The tenth of October, what should be a happy day for all, was one he dreaded the most. It was his birthday, but unlike any other in the village, he was hunted instead of pampered. It was only a year ago that the orphanage he had lived in for the first three years of his life had kicked him out. Now, he lived in the streets as a gaunt, blonde specter. Only standing out because of the hideous orange jumpsuit that was all any store would allow him to have. It was especially hard today. Villagers and ninja alike chased him through the streets, brandishing weapons of all kinds. Once they had inevitably caught the exhausted boy, the beating began. It would not stop until the end of that day. 'Why!? Why does everybody hate me like this? What did I do that was so wrong?' Crying even harder, the boy blacked out.

His senses returned slowly. At first it was touch. He could feel the weight of thin sheets and a lumpy mattress. Next came his hearing, and a strange rhythmic beeping somewhere to his right. With smell came the scent of a sterile environment and, strangely enough, sweet tobacco smoke. This caused him to open his eyes to see the one person in the village who showed any compassion for him. His adopted grandfather, even though the man could not act like one, much as he wanted to. "Jii-san. What happened to me? Why am I in the hospital?" The boy's voice was weak from starvation and his recent trauma.

Sarutobi sighed, thanking the Goddess for Inoichi of the Yamanaka clan. He was one of the very few that saw the boy for what he was. "You were involved in an accident, and were sent here to recuperate. The doctors say that you should be find to leave today though. There wasn't much damage done." The lie tasted bitter in his mouth, but it was better that the boy remembered as little of these beatings as possible. Naruto, however, could feel something off about that answer. 'Hadn't I been chased around by near half the village before he woke up here? Guess that must be when the accident happened'

Knowing that it wouldn't help anything to think about it, Naruto switched gears."Hey, Jii-san, is Asuma-san gonna come today to yell at you for trying to get him to return to the village?" Truthfully, he wanted to see Asuma, and to spend time with the aged Hokage. Another reason was that it got him out of the streets where people glared at him constantly.

Sarutobi was about to answer, but a loud growl emanating from the boy's stomach cut him off, changing the mood in the room entirely as he laughed and Naruto blushed a deep red. "He might Naruto, but before we go there, let's get something to eat." Naruto cheered at this idea and pulled on his newly repaired jumpsuit, which Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at. "One of these days, I'm going to take you to find some better cloths than those. The tailors in Suna are amazing you know." Naruto beamed, tying the jacket of the suit around his waist.

The two left the hospital through the window, Naruto riding on Sarutobi's shoulders, and headed to the one place the old man trusted to feed his grandson. Ichiraku ramen. Techui had known Minato as one of his best customers, and by some quirk of genetics, it seemed that his son had acquired an even greater addiction to the dish than his father. Ayame was too young to remember anything about the day that the Kyuubi attacked, and her father treated Naruto like family. Well, paying family sometimes. Eight large bowls of ramen later, and Naruto's empty stomach was satisfied for the first time in months, Techui waving any money offered aside. He hated to see the kid starve, but Naruto was too kind for his own good. He refused free food most of the time, claiming that they would go out of business if they fed him for free as often as it was offered.

The Hokage tower was built on top of a wide stump of some kind of ancient tree, felled long before any currently alive could know. This stump was the reason Konoha was built where it was, seeing as something about it seemed to draw the elemental spirits like a magnet, allowing the surrounding town to grow crops faster than normal. Seeing as it was the central part of the town, it was obvious that the tower should be built on top of it. At the top of the tower, in the Hokage's office, were three people. Naruto sat atop the shoulders of a strong young man with slightly long black hair and a habit of chain smoking, who was having a loud argument with the leader of the village. The boy couldn't be happier though. He saw Asuma as an uncle, and every time the man came around, he would tell Naruto stories of the world outside the gates of Konoha. Sometimes, if he was lucky, he would get to hear stories about missions that Asuma had been on. This man, who, under normal circumstances, would be a sub-par role model inspired Naruto with dreams of greatness. It was the dream of the boy to become the strongest ninja ever. Perhaps he would attain the seat of Hokage, but that didn't matter to him as long as he could find and protect as many precious people as he could. To Naruto, that was true strength.

Naruto's small moment of familial bliss was broken as a porcelain dog masked member of ANBU entered the room to give a report on a top secret mission he had returned from, and he and Asuma were grudgingly dismissed from the room. Asuma, who had other errands he needed to take care of in the village, left Naruto by the entrance to the tower and headed off into town. That was when he heard it, felt it. Something was calling for him. This something yearned to be found, and it was pulling at him to search. Confused, the boy circled the tower, running his hand along the smooth bark of the enormous stump, when his hand seemed to pass right through a portion of it. He tested this, and found a hidden entrance, assuming that it was a fallout shelter of some design. Still curious, he entered the passageway, following the pull as it strengthened. The inside of the stump was a maze, and he was sure he would be lost if not for the constant call leading him in the right direction. Once he reached the center of the maze, he stopped, staring in awe at what he had found.

There, in exactly the center of the room he had found was a magnificent, ornamental sword half buried in the ground, almost as if the tree had sprung from it instead of any seed. His compulsion was at its strongest, and he could not resist the pull. He placed his hand on the hilt of the blade and pulled with all the might his small body could manage. The blade broke free of the earth and wood around it, and once free, shattered into millions of tiny fragments which attached themselves to the boy's hand, forming a thin, skin tight gauntlet. His compulsion changed to one of sleep, and he lie down, drifting into one of the first truly peaceful respites he had yet. He dreamed of a magnificent tree which spoke to him with a kind, loving voice, and which showed him glimpses into the past.

Once the boy was asleep, physical manifestations of the elements began to form in a ring around him. One resembled a mermaid carrying a trident. One a lizard with a flaming spear. Yet another took the form of a small man with a pointed hat from which dangled a red crystal. A sleepy looking, floating blue entity formed next, and after it came what looked like a tongue of blue-white fire with eyes. Dark, bat-like wings and a single eye comprised the next one, and after it came one that looked like a tree with the face of a woman. The last was a bright golden statuesque figure with eyes. Once all were assembled, the spirit resembling a small man spoke first. "Well my brothers and sisters, it looks as if the Goddess has chosen her next champion. I don't think we need any discussion about whether we help the boy out or not, do we?" All present showed what form of assent they could. "Good. I don't think he would be able to understand what's going on, and it may be a bad idea to explain it to him at this point. None the less, we should assign one of us to watch over the boy until he's ready. Jinn, how about you?" The sleepy looking one nodded, never opening his eyes. "Yes, I believe it would be a job best suited for me at this point. He seems to have a natural affinity for my ilk anyway." Gnome clapped his hands together. "Good! That settled, let us go about our business as usual. He'll find us when he's meant to." Again, all showed their forms of assent, and all but Jinn vanished. Jinn, himself, bonded to the gauntlet on Naruto's arm, a small teal gem filling in one of the eight empty slots on the back of his hand.

Naruto awoke refreshed several hours later, never noticing the new silver, gold accented gauntlet which had covered his right arm to the elbow because, to him, it felt like his normal skin. He made his way out of the maze slowly, absorbed in the memory of his dream. The voice had asked for his love in such a desperate way. It made him happy that it did. For some reason, he knew all that he saw and heard was real. That voice, whoever it was, wanted and needed him. With that thought, he emerged from the base of the stump, smiling. What he saw when he came out confused him though. There, in front of him, were three worried faces. Those of Sarutobi Asuma, Yamanaka Inoichi, and strangely enough, Hiashi Hyuuga. It was Asuma that spoke first. "Naruto! There you are. We've been looking all over for you for the last three hours! Where in the world did you get off to?" He never let the boy answer, his tirade continuing until the three had brought him to the Hokage's office where the third sat behind his desk. "We've found him, finally, Hokage-sama" Inoichi spoke, receiving a relieved sigh from the old man. "Naruto, where did you go?"

"It's alright Jii-san, I just found that hidden bunker under the tower and took a nap, that's all." Naruto was glad to finally be able to speak, but was astounded at the look of surprise on the old man's face. "Uhh.. Jii-san? What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?" Sarutobi shook his head, gathering his thoughts. "Could you show me Naruto? I've never even heard about something like that." Naruto cheered, glad to not be in trouble for once, and glad that he had found something new to show everybody. "Yeah! Follow me, I think I remember where the door was."

Ten minutes later, they had reached the place Naruto remembered entering the base of the tree. The problem was, that the door wasn't there any more. Getting frustrated, Naruto began to bang on the stump with his right hand, finally drawing everybody's attention to the change, including his own. "Ahh! What's this?! Jii-san, what's this? I don't remember finding this anywhere, or even putting it on!" The boy was beginning to panic, trying to pull the gauntlet from his arm, only to realize that he could feel everything through it, and that it wouldn't even budge.

Sarutobi took a long drag on his pipe, blowing the smoke out slowly as Naruto began to calm down again. 'I hate to take a Nara's line, but this is going to be... troublesome...'

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Well, there you go. First chapter of a crossover that I don't think anybody has yet tried. If they have, it's extremely rare and hopefully not as well done as mine. Not all chapters will be this short, I promise. I just needed to get the foundation for the world and the story down first. Let me know what you all think about everything. Your reviews and constructive criticism make me a better writer, so hit that shiny button and type something nice. Flamers, go ahead and flame. I'll laugh at you.


	2. Chapter 2: That First Day

Alright! Here's chapter 2. Not much to announce here, so now I go to answering the one question that was asked.

Naruto is and isn't the only person who uses that power. I may not have made it perfectly clear, but every ninja taps into the spirits to use jutsu. However, Naruto is the only one who can and will wield all of the elemental incarnations. As I believe from playing the mana games, there are many spirits, but only one of each element is strong enough to form its own incarnation. I'll try to clarify if this still doesn't make any sense.

Now to a question that probably won't be asked, but should still be addressed. Yes, each spirit is associated with its own jutsu type. So, we have Jinn for wind, Undine for water, and so forth. Lighting jutsu was a little tricky though, since none of the elementals directly influence it. I attributed that to Aura. Aura seems to be the spirit of metal, and metal conducts electricity. It's roundabout, I know, but it's the only way I saw to do it without making a new elemental. For some jutsu, like ice, I'm going to let that be a combination, but for wood, that's Dryad's territory.

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**That First Day**

...Naruto gave a dark chuckle. "You know, the whole village hated me until that day. What Hiashi saw with those eyes of his changed everything for me. Oh sure, everybody still hated me, but the council was dead set on crafting me into a weapon for the village. One without a will of his own, who would kill himself should his master order it. The ninja clans on the council were against the idea though, all of them seemed to be privy to my lineage, even if none of them showed it.. I guess I should start where I left of though, shouldn't I?"

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Back in the Hokage tower, the man with the sharpest eyes in the village, Hyuuga Hiashi, activated his Byakugan, an ability of the eyes, passed down in his family, to see near 360 degrees, and to see a person's chakra network. Having the fox demon sealed within Naruto's body, his network was already more complex than was normal, but this latest addition had changed things yet again. Naruto's gauntlet had spread its own chakra network into the boys' body. What really shocked him, was that this network was pulling the Kyuubi's chakra into the gauntlet, purifying it, then returning it to the demon.

Sarutobi knew that he would have to speak with Hiashi in private about this matter, so he didn't ask. Hiashi returned his eyes to their normal state, schooling his face back into his usual impassive expression. "The boy seems perfectly fine Hokage-sama. It would seem that this is nothing to worry about for now." The aged Hokage nodded, dismissing the boy once more.

Once Naruto had left the room, it was resealed, and Hiashi gave his report about his findings, as well as his thoughts concerning the strange occurrence. "Hokage-sama, I trust you have heard the legend of the Mana Tree, and the holy Sword of Mana, correct?" The old man nodded, allowing Hiashi to continue. "It is said that the stump this building sits atop was once the Great Tree. I didn't believe any of it until what I saw today. The only way I can think of for the Kyuubi to be purified like this, is to be in direct contact with the Sword. If a demon like the Kyuubi, who was thought to be only a legend, can actually exist, can we not say the same can be true with this legend?"

"You may be correct Hiashi-san. After hearing the boy's account of things, especially of that dream of his, I can't help but believe the whole thing. However, this will have to be announced to the council, much as I hate to do it to the boy. Who knows, this may just change everybody's opinion of him."

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"Ahh, good old jii-san, ever hopeful that the wishes of my father would one day be fulfilled. A couple weeks passed, when one day, I was taken to the council chambers by a group of ANBU. I stood next to Jii-san, confused. What four year old wouldn't be confused at something like that?"

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"I'm telling you no Danzo!" The third Hokage was in a rage. His long time opponent was once again trying to undermine his authority, all for the sake of gaining power for himself. "The boy will never be used by you or anyone! Hasn't he suffered enough?" He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Naruto will be admitted to the Academy next year, just like every other willing child. He will grow up to be his own person, not some puppet for you to play with." With that, the old man scooped Naruto up onto his shoulders and stormed out of the chambers, with the ninja portion of the council, Danzo excepting, following close behind.

It wasn't more than a month later when Naruto awoke to the sound of his run down apartment crackling in flames all around him. He awoke in a panic, quickly gathering what little important objects he had, and rushed out through the window by breaking through. In his current state, he didn't notice how the flames bent away from him, as if they wanted nothing to do with his suffering. Behind him, he could see a mob of villagers cheering for the certain death of the demon child. He ran as fast as he could, passing through the gates of Konoha before the gate guards could say a word. He didn't stop until he was deep in the surrounding forest.

The boy looked around in wonder at the clearing he had found. The stood a single large tree in the center of the clearing. For some reason, a memory of a house built into a large tree, much like this one, entered his mind. He smiled. This could be his place of refuge. He marked the clearing in his mental map before making his way back into Konoha, headed towards the Hokage tower. Somehow, he managed to avoid being seen by anybody. Even better, he got into the Hokage's office right under the noses of his guards. Right now, he trusted very few people.

"Oi Jii-san!" Naruto announced his presence to the old man in his usual fashion, though more quiet than usual. Sarutobi had the good grace to look surprised at his arrival. 'Since when did Naruto get so good at sneaking around?' "Naruto! What are you doing here this late at night? Shouldn't you be in bed?" The look on the boys' face told him just about everything, but he still had to ask. "What happened Naruto? You can talk to me." Tears started to run down Naruto's cheeks as he looked into the face of the one he considered his grandfather. "Jii-san... They burned my apartment down.. They started the fire while I was asleep. They were calling me the demon brat. They wanted me to die! Why? What did I ever do to them!?" As he spoke, the blonde's tone changed from anguished to enraged, and rightfully so.

Just then, Naruto heard a disembodied voice. "I believe I can shed some light as to why.. Come to me kit." Sarutobi leapt from his chair in shock. One minute the boy was up and yelling, the next, he had fallen over, seemingly asleep. Naruto, however, had entered into a strange place. He stood ankle deep in what appeared to be a sewer. Lost, the boy wandered, seeing several doors along the way. Many of these doors were locked though, and the few he could open showed him memories of some of the happier times in his life. "We are in your mind kit.." The voice came is if it knew his thoughts. "Come to me. Follow my voice." He heard it clearer this time, and followed the passageways until he arrived in front of a large cage. The bars were held together in the middle by a single, flimsy looking paper seal. This wasn't what surprised him though. Behind the bars was a large, beautiful looking fox. Its fur was a bright golden color and its eyes were a deep blue, much like his own. Waving gently behind the large fox were nine tails. The beast sat on its haunches, looking down on him with an almost regal serenity.

"Who.. who are you?" The boy stared up in wonder at the beautiful creature. Kyuubi, the fox demon, was the only creature he knew of that would look anything like this, but surely a demon wouldn't look so divine. Once again, as if sensing his thoughts, the creature spoke up. "Yes young one, I am indeed the Kyuubi no kitsune. However, my powers and my very soul have been cleansed by what now resides upon your arm. I can honestly say that I'm grateful for that. The life of a demon is detestable.."

"K..kyuubi? But everybody was told that the Fourth killed you! You're supposed to be dead, aren't you?" The fox chuckled to itself. "No young one, that was a lie made to protect you from yourself, and from those your age. The truth was not hidden from the older generation, however, and you have suffered greatly for my past transgressions. I am the very reason that you have suffered all this time." It was an odd sight as the majestic fox bowed low to the ground, its tails hanging low and its ears drooping. "Naruto-kun, you may choose what to do with me. As I am now, should you release the seal, my soul will die and you will be free of your burden. If you allow me to live, I will do my best to ease your mental suffering. I will be here as a vast library, all my knowledge open to you along with what power I can give you that will not put strain on your body. I leave the choice to you." Kyuubi closed its eyes, awaiting its final judgement.

Naruto was reeling. So many questions were answered all at once. His decision was a simple one though. The kindhearted four year old stepped through the cage, placing his hand on the fox's nose. "Kyuubi, you seem sorry for everything that's happened, and if I expect to fulfill my dreams with my current situation as it is, I don't think I will get very far. Please, help me. I could use a friend and ally."

The fox opened its eyes wide in surprise. It honestly expected the boy to be angry and tear the seal immediately. "Are you sure Naruto? You may never find peace in your life if you make this decision.." Naruto merely smiled, stroking its soft golden coat. "Yeah, I'm sure. You aren't evil Kyuubi, even if you used to be." Kyuubi smiled as best as a fox could. "Thank you Naruto-kun, but from now on, will you please call me Yuuko? Kyuubi is a title I wish to leave behind."

Naruto looked at her, head tilted. Yuuko could almost see the gears working overtime. "Wait.. you're a girl?" She sighed, knowing she'd have much o teach the boy in the years to come. "Yes, I am. For now though, I think I should let you back out. It would seem Sarutobi-san is worried about you." The next thing he knew, Naruto was staring up into the face of the Hokage. "Oh, sorry Jii-san.. I guess I'm just tired from everything that's happened today."

The blonde stood back up, brushing off his ratty clothing. "Jii-san, what I really wanted to talk to you about, before I distracted myself, is that I've found a nice place to live in the forest bordering Konoha. I needed to ask for your permission to build a place for myself, away from all of this." He waved his hand to the window that overlooked the city. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna run off, and I still want to be a ninja, I just need a peaceful place to live. One where those who don't like me can't find me."

"I understand Naruto-kun. I just wish there was more I could do for you." The old man looked down at his desk, frustrated that the council had taken so much power during the aftermath of Minato's death. Most likely due to Danzo's leadership. Naruto smiled at him, shaking his head. "Wouldn't want to give you any more trouble than I have to Jii-san. There is something you can do though. In my dreams, or is it memories? I'm not sure any more... Anyway, long story short, I've been feeling the urge to learn how to run a forge as well as learn to tend a garden. If you could find somebody in the near future that would be willing to teach me, that's all I need. I'll see you in a year Jii-san. It'll take a long time to build my house the way I want it." With that, the boy slid the window open and ran into the night, leaving a sighing old man. "Naruto.. I wish you didn't have to mature this quickly. You should have been able to be an innocent child until you were through with the academy...."

* * *

I was just about right when I said it would take a year. I wanted a house like the one I remembered, and building into a tree without killing it is a slow, painstaking job, not to mention that I was very young. I did it though. All through that year I lived in the forest, hunting and foraging for my food. Many times I thought I was going crazy when I would catch a glimpse of strange beings that seemed to vanish before I got even the smallest detail. Yuuko taught me a great many things that year as well, from the true history of the world as she had lived it, to how it felt to be with a mother. She had become my family, and together we faced the memories that had been sealed away from me. I held no grudge against those who had sealed them away. In fact, I'm grateful that they did. Without Yuuko to help me, I would have been overcome by my emotions.

Near the end of the year, she explained the meaning of the strange gauntlet that I would often ask about. What I held was a weakened Sword of Mana, tired from centuries of giving life to the world around it. Jinn made himself known to me very soon after that, feeling that I was finally ready to learn of his existence. That was an interesting day to say the least. It happened when I was taking a break from tunneling into the tree..

* * *

Naruto was gnawing at a strip of boar jerky, idly wondering about the second mystery of the gauntlet. The strange turquoise stone and the hollows that looked as if they would hold similar stones had always intrigued him. As he looked down at the small stone, he noticed it flash briefly before a strong gust of wind blew by, making him close his eyes to avoid catching dirt in them. Once the gust died down, he opened his eyes again to see a strange sleepy looking figure floating gently in front of his eyes.

"Wha? No.. Who are you?" Naruto didn't quite know why, but he knew that this figure was vastly intelligent, as if it had seen all the ages of the world.

"Sylph.. The Rider of the Winds... Just call me Sylph though.." He cracked his eyes slightly as he spoke, his voice taking on a kind, airy, and sleepy tone.

The blonde blinked as he tried to remember where he knew that name from, Yuuko giggling to herself in the back of his mind. Suddenly, it hit him. The legend of the Mana Goddess that Yuuko had told him spoke of the elemental spirits. Sylph was the avatar of the Wind Moon, as well as the strongest of the wind spirits. He realized this, and dropped to his knees, bowing low to the mighty spirit. "Forgive me Sylph-sama, I didn't meant to be rude."

Sylph merely released an airy chuckle. "Stand up Naruto, I have no need for such respect. Besides, you're more like a partner to me, not to mention that as long as you live, I'm a part of you."

This confused Naruto more than he already was. He stood back up though. "Wait, Yuuko just said that the sword attached itself to my arm until its strength returned. Sure, it purified her soul, and it's been feeding off our excess chakra to regain its energies, but we didn't sense you at all.."

"I was holding my power away from you until I felt that you were ready to know of my existence. I had sealed myself into that gem, but would not allow my presence to be known until now. Naruto, you didn't find the sword by chance. You have a destiny far greater than you can imagine. The world has strayed from the Goddess once more, and she has been consumed by her dark side. If this continues on, the world will descend into madness and destroy itself once again. The Goddess called you to the sword, believing that your pure heart can bring the world back to her, and the spirits have agreed to help you in your task. The others will show themselves when they feel you are ready, but be warned, there are some of us who will test you, and the trials will not be easy."

The young boy absorbed this information like a sponge, his smile growing wider the more he understood. "So then everything I dreamed was true?" Sylph nodded, closing his eyes again. "You are ready to know your destiny today Naruto, but are far from ready to learn to wield the powers of Yuuko or I. Don't hurry to grow up, for that hardens the heart. Take your time and enjoy life as much as possible." With a nod from Naruto, and another gust of wind, Sylph vanished once more into his gem.

* * *

From then on, I could speak with Sylph much like I spoke with Yuuko. Once he allowed me to sense him, he made his own place in my mindscape. That is another aspect of myself that had undergone changes. Yuuko had modified the seal so that she could wander my mind freely, so we had changed my mindscape to a wide green plane. From that day, Sylph became the wind of my mindscape.

So it was that I returned to Konoha, my right arm covered by bandages, and wearing crudely fashioned leather clothing. How the people of the village wondered at my appearance! They had gone for so long without seeing the demon brat that they had assumed I was dead. As I wandered through the city, looking about for any changes, ANBU appeared around me. I was far too used to this kind of treatment, so I merely followed them to the place I knew they would take me. Jii-san's office.

* * *

"Naruto! I was almost thinking you weren't going to come back at all. I take it you did what you said you were going to do in the forest?" Sarutobi was happy to see the blonde after his absence. He had missed that small ray of sunshine that was Naruto.

"Hey Jii-san! Yeah, I just finished building last month. I'll let you see it one of these days. It may be a little small, but it's all I need. That's not the reason you had me hauled in her though, is it?" Naruto grinned at the Hokage, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Hmm, no, it wasn't. Remember when I told you that you'd be starting at the academy this year?" A nod from the boy told him that it wasn't forgotten. "Well, tomorrow is the first day of class, so I expect you to be there bright and early. Also, I took the liberty of ordering this from Suna. I hope it fits well enough." He handed the bundle of cloth over to the blonde who inspected it carefully.

"Wow, you got the right size somehow. You been keeping tabs on me with that crystal ball of yours?" Naruto joked before heading into the Hokage's bathroom to change into his first cloths in years. The shirt was simple and loose with a light, flexible metal breastplate that came down to his waist and attached to two wide metal plates that covered his hips, but left full range of movement. The pants were wide and flowing, pleated in several places from hip to hem. Oh his feet were close toed shoes that were slightly longer than his feet and curved upwards slightly. He had one glove for his left arm that ended in a tight metal band below his shoulder, and had a long flowing red scarf which he used to partially hide his face from view. He had decided to leave the bandages around his gauntlet, and when he left the bathroom, he bowed to Sarutobi.

"Thanks Jii-san, really. I don't think I've ever had more comfortable cloths than these." Sarutobi nodded, pride in his eyes. "I paid the tailors in Suna a little extra for continued repair and adjustment. When you need them bigger, just let me know." Naruto nodded. "Will do Jii-san. How about the other thing we talked about though?" His answer was a scroll tossed to him. Upon opening it, he saw two addresses. "The Yamanaka family will teach you the basics of gardening. It's not really something that can be taught. The head of the Kireru weapons shop has agreed to take you on as an apprentice. You'll work with both after classes on alternating days." Naruto smiled brightly at this, he had been itching to work in a forge for a while. "Hai Jii-san. Is that all then? I want to take a look at the Academy, maybe meet the teachers before I actually attend classes tomorrow."

Sarutobi nodded his assent, and Naruto left his office through the window before dropping to the ground. He had already figured out how to use chakra to augment his jumping and to cushion his landings. Once on the streets, he wandered through the town once more, making sure to note the locations of the Yamanaka shop and the Kireru forge. He found the academy, and walked in, looking around to find where the teachers lounge was. Once he found it, he entered cautiously. He was still far too used to adults glaring at him, if not chasing him down with the intent to kill. That wasn't what he encountered here though. All eyes turned to him showed one of three things. Respect, confusion, or concern. All except for one silver haired teacher's assistant whose eyes held an atypical amount of burning hatred.

"Hello everybody, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I'm just here to let you all know that, starting tomorrow, I'll be attending classes. Know this, I know exactly who and what I am, and I will take any discrimination problems directly to the Hokage. Treat me like everybody else, and we'll get along just fine. Thank you for your time." With a wave and a bright smile, he left the room. "Well... That was different.." One pineapple haired teacher commented before returning to his prep work.

Naruto made his way through town slowly, a gentle smile on his face. Even if most people on the street were throwing distrustful glares at him, he was having a good day. That is, until a mob of angry villagers began to form behind him. He chuckled darkly to himself. A year in the forests of Konoha and the spirit of the once demon inside of him had made him wily as a fox himself. Quick as a summer breeze, he vanished into a crowd of people nearby before slipping into an alleyway. From there, he jumped onto the roof of the nearby building, traveling from building to building in such a way that he avoided the eyes of the mob entirely. Once close enough to the gate, he slipped through quietly, returning to his forest haven.

A soft chuckle sounded through his mind once he was safe inside his home, and he delved into his mindscape, finding himself in the center of the plane. "How did I do Yuuko?"

She was kneeling in the grass, having taken on her human form, a tall, fair skinned woman with long blonde hair that ended at her waist. She was wearing a sky blue kimono that made her cerulean eyes shine brighter. "Well, I would say that your escape was just about perfect, but you should have taken more care to avoid being seen in the first place."

"I'll take that into consideration. I don't want to be invisible though. Tomorrow's going to be a big day huh? I hope I got the message across to the teachers. Not that I need school for the knowledge when I have you two hmm?" Yuuko and Sylph chuckled along with him. "However, I don't need my classmates thinking ill of me because of the teachers." After a short chat with the voices in his head as he affectionately called them, he returned to the outside world, opting to get an early night in.

The next day, he went with Yuuko's advise and made his way to the academy undetected. He even managed to slip into his classroom unseen, ten minutes before anybody else arrived. He took a seat, watching as his classmates began to filter in. The only two he recognized vaguely were a deep blue haired girl with pale lavender eyes, which he immediately recognized as a Hyuuga. The next was a platinum blonde with blue eyes. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, but she left part of her long bangs unbound to cover her right eye. He placed her as a Yamanaka, the resemblance to Inoichi was too close. Once all the students were in their seats, their teacher made his way to the front of the room to call attendance.

Class passed by quickly, their teacher merely explaining what their school life would be like before dismissing them to recess. Naruto went out with the others, but instead of playing, he leafed through the course book that he had been given. Well, until his classmates decided he should play with them. It was a group of boys, a young, feral looking boy with triangle shaped red marks under his eyes at the lead, with a chubby kid whose cheeks bore red spiral marks, and a lazy looking boy with a pineapple hairdo.

"Cmon kid! Let's go play! None of us have seen you around before, and you seem pretty cool, well, not when you just sit and read..." The feral boy seemed hard pressed to say what he really meant, but Naruto understood anyway. "Yeah, I'll play with you guys. I don't know any games though. I've kinda been living on my own." The other boys eyes went wide at that. "Y'mean that you don't have parents telling ya what to do all the time?" The blonde looked at him as if examining a new breed of insect. "Is it good to not have parents?" The boys had the good graces to look embarrassed. "N.. No, I didn't mean it like that.." Naruto chuckled, waving his hand. "It's alright, just try to avoid saying things like that in the future please." That was how he met and befriended Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru.

After school that day, Naruto waved off offers from his new friends to join them for dinner. Instead, he took a winding path through town, leading to the gates so that nobody would follow and find his sanctuary.

* * *

Ino had gone home immediately after school, excited to talk to her parents about her first day at school. As she and her parents ate sat down to dinner, Inoichi asked her how her day had gone.

"It was great! Our teacher is nice, and the boys in my class are really cute! Especially this blonde kid. He's got these tattoos that look like whisker marks, and his cloths were so cool! I think his name is Naruto or something." Inoichi grinned to himself. 'So the kid's still around and doing well. That's good to hear.' He decided to overlook the fact that she called the boy cute. Little girls change their minds all the time, right?

Hinata had a similar experience. For once, her father seemed interested in her life, and she was overjoyed to be able to talk to him like family instead of the clan head. "Well, our class seems to be diverse. Many of the head clans have children of theirs attending this year. There was a boy that I couldn't quite place though." She blushed slightly when she thought about him. "Spiky blonde hair and strange whisker marks, like a tattoo or a birthmark. He was very thin, almost like he'd been eating only enough to keep him going.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" Hinata nodded, answering her father's question. "Hmm, so he's doing well for himself now. Hinata, I want you to be kind to that boy. He has already led a more difficult life than most adults. He deserves to have people he can trust." The girl nodded again, and then there was silence. Hiashi still wasn't too sure how to act around his daughter.

* * *

Naruto, sitting down to his own spartan meal, was caught up in a fit of sneezing. "Huh, somebody must be talking about me.. Probably another mob or something." With a shrug, he dug into the stew he had set cooking before he had left for school that morning.

* * *

Well, there you go, chapter two. Quite a bit longer than the last one, at least to me. I have problems breaking the 5000 word count it seems. Those wondering exactly what the outfit looks like... well, I haven't been able to convince my friend to try drawing it yet, so look up the male character of Legend of Mana. His outfit is a heavily modified version of that. Things to look forward to in the next chapter? Training, learning, friendships formed, a certain teacher put in his place. Expect very little fluff until several chapters down the line. If I actually do any, it'll be one sided or between a non Naruto pair. Thank you for reading my chapter, and let me know what you think so far. Reviews make me very happy, and those with constructive criticism and or suggestions for plot make me rather ecstatic. So go ahead, press that shiny button and leave me a sentence or two. I am flame retardant though. As in, you flame me, I ignore your retardation.


	3. Chapter 3: Life as it Was

Dragon: I actually thought about doing that. I love the Tales games almost as much as I love the World of Mana. But, I want to stay as true to that world as I can. Call it me being stubborn and wanting to challenge myself.

Well, Yuuko is kinda like a sister, but I meant for her to be seen more like a mother figure than anything else.

Remember, I do not own anything related to the World of Mana, or Naruto. Well, aside from Mana games.

* * *

**Life As it Was**

The first year of school was rough. I was no stranger to hard work, but my schedule kept me running around. I remember my first day of training after I had gotten settled into the school routine. I found myself standing in the front room of the Kireru shop...

Naruto looked around in fascination. There were so many different kinds of weapons lining the walls of the shop, all marked with the forge's seal. In fact, the only completely clear area was on and behind the counter where a girl, perhaps only a year older than he, was watching for any customers while her father was tending his craft. She had almond shaped brown eyes, and held her hair up in two tight buns on top of her head. It was she that spoke first. "Hey kid, I'm not supposed to let anybody younger than Gennin age in. Sorry, but you'll have to leave."

The blonde boy was confused. Had they not known he was supposed to work here? "But you're in here.. Why can't I be in here too?" She puffed up slightly, pride in her eyes. "Well, that's because my dad owns this place, so I can come in whenever I want." She was cut off from any further bragging when a strong hand was placed on her shoulder. This hand was attached to a man Naruto would have thought of as a giant at his current age. He stood at 6 feet even and was heavily musclebound from hefting weighty forge hammers. It was a wonder that he still had his full range of movement. He had dark hair like his daughter, but had it bound in a short ponytail. His eyes were sharp, but kind, and of the same dark brown as his hair.

"Now now Ten-chan. You wouldn't want to send my new apprentice away before I even got the chance to meet him, would you?" He turned his gaze to the young boy, a small grin on his face. "Well, a bit scrawny, but I guess we all start out that way. I'm Shinrei Kireru, but you'll just call me Boss or Sensei until I've taught you all I can. Now that that's out of the way, time to clean shop."

Tenten watched as the boy followed her father back into the forge room, a look of confusion on her features. 'A shrimp like that is Dad's apprentice? He won't last a week!' At the forge, Shinrei tossed a shovel to the boy, pointing at the dying embers. "Alright! Your first job is to shovel it out. You don't get to do anything else but shovel and watch until you get some meat on your bones, and I'm satisfied that you're an apt learner. If you're lucky, I may just let you haul in the raw materials from time to time."

With a grin and a salute, Naruto set himself to work, vaguely recalling a memory of a short man under a very large horned helm that had worked the Goddesses former champion to the bone while teaching his craft. After cleaning the fire pit, Shinrei helped him prepare for the next day, stacking dry wood beside the pit. It wasn't until late that evening when he was allowed to leave, sore from shoveling and carrying heavy logs. Still, he made his way back to his forest sanctuary, undetected as usual, and dug into the meal he had set to cook while he was away. He took an hours time for meditation, speaking with Jinn and Yuuko without distraction, before crawling into bed and passing out immediately.

Outside of his window, seven small figures looked in on the sleeping figure. "Well now, it looks t' me like our lad's growing up good and strong in mind and body. In a few years, he just might be ready t' take on his full burden."

"Aargh! You take things too slow! I say we should just talk to him in the morning. The sooner he gets training, the better for everybody!"

"Cool it hothead. We agreed that we'd only show ourselves when he was ready. Jinn was alright only because he is the most suited for the boy. His body would reject the rest of us outright as it is now. There is only so much room for power before a breaking point is reached. It would be wise to wait until the first stage of manifestation takes place before another of us even makes contact."

"Goldie is right you know.. Yes, I think two or three more years will be enough. Besides, the Sword isn't strong enough yet to hold more than just Jinn. Now, even so, we should decide who will be next to join him..."

* * *

Morning came quickly for Naruto, but he always considered that a good thing. It meant that he could take one more step closer to his dreams. There was a substitute for their class that day though. The silver haired teacher whose eyes held so much hatred for him had taken charge that day, and upon realizing which class he had that day, handed out a surprise quiz. His, though, was under the most subtle of genjutsu which rendered the text all but illegible to him. Needless to say, Mizuki graded the tests in front of the entire class, writing the results on the board for everyone to see. All but Naruto's friends laughed and taunted him, one dark eyed boy, beloved by the majority of girls in the class, taking the opportunity to call him 'dobe', a nickname that would stick with him for the rest of his school career.

Naruto was strong though, so he soldiered on through the rest of the day, enduring harsh comments about his intelligence and lack of parentage, as well as being physically humiliated by the loathsome silver haired substitute when the time for their taijutsu lessons. Every time something needed demonstrating, Mizuki would choose the boy, and attack him without mercy. It didn't make matters any better that he was still sore from working the night before.

Finally, class was over. Choji, Shikamaru, and Kiba made sure Naruto was doing well before they headed home, having academy homework and an early curfew set by their parents. The blonde left the academy, slowly walking towards the Yamanaka shop while thanking the Goddess for Yuuko. She had been healing his body slowly over the course of the day so as to not arouse suspicion from his classmates. Somehow, he didn't notice the shy girl trailing him, a soft blush on her face as she tried to gather the courage to talk to this one boy. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out from her hiding place, throwing caution to the winds. "N... Naruto-san? M.. May I talk with you f.. for a wh.. while?"

The blonde turned on his heel, surprised to see her out of class, but even more surprised that Konoha nobility would bother with someone like him. 'No.. They're not all like that. Hiashi-sama was nice to me before.' He pointedly ignored the tutting noise Yuuko was making at him for letting his guard down for so long. "A.. Ah. Good evening Hinata-sama. I have somewhere I need to be, but if you would like to walk with me, I would enjoy the company." He bowed slightly, unsure of how to act around somebody like her.

She nodded, her blush deepening as she walked beside him. "U.. Um, I d.. don't think what Mi.. Mizuki-sensei did to you today was fair.." Naruto shrugged, flashing his cheshire grin. "Thank you for your concern Hinata-sama, but I've had far worse. A little bit of hazing isn't going to dampen my spirits." He pumped his bandaged right arm into the air to emphasize his point. Hinata smiled as well, finding it hard to resist joining in his enthusiasm. "Um.. N... Naruto-san, c.. could you just call me Hinata-chan? I don't see myself as above you, so..." The blonde nodded, stopping a few feet from the door to the Yamanaka store. "Sure, but only if Hinata-chan will also agree to be more familiar." He smiled again before nodding at the shop. "This is my stop though. Guess you could call it a part time job." He waved before entering the store, the bell over the door tinkling

The lavender eyed girl gave a short bow. "I th.. think I can do that Na.. Naruto-kun." She waved back to him before setting off towards the Hyuuga compound, lost in her thoughts of having found her first friend.

Again, Naruto was treated to the sight of a girl about his age sitting behind a counter, looking bored out of her mind. This time though, it was the blonde daughter of Inoichi, Ino Yamanaka. She looked up to see him enter, and put on her brightest of smiles. "Hi there Naruto-kun! Daddy just told me today that Hokage-sama set you up with a part time job here to learn how to garden. I didn't even know boys liked flowers!" He scratched the back of his head, grinning. "Hey Ino-chan. Umm, It's more like learning to grow produce actually. Not that I don't like flowers or anything, but when you live on your own.." Ino was about to ask another question, but her mother's voice stopped her.

"Ino, honey, I'm sure he'll talk about it when he's ready, but not a moment before. Besides, we have to get him started, don't we?" She turned to look at Naruto, smiling brightly. "So nice to meet you Naruto-kun. Inoichi has told me a lot about you. I'm Reina, Ino's mother. Now then, let's get started. How much do you know already Naruto-kun?"

The work that day was similar to the work he did at the forge. He shoveled dry dirt and plant matter into compost heaps to make good soil for the greater part of the day. Reina wouldn't even think about letting him leave until he had sat down to dinner with their family, something which Ino was ecstatic about. On his way home, he had the cover of darkness, once again leaving the gates of Konoha for his own forest sanctuary where he spoke with Yuuko and Jinn for a little while before finishing what little homework he had and turning in for the night.

* * *

This was my life now. Whether I was at the forge, the flower shop, or school, I always had people around me who cheered me on. Hinata, Ino, and I became close as could be. Ino and Hinata balancing each other out. Now Hinata could talk confidently without a single stutter, and Ino could control her temper. I also, somehow, gained a rivalry with the dark eyed boy named Sasuke Uchiha...

It was just another day in class, late in our first year. To see how far we had come along, our sensei was pitting members of the class together in taijutsu spar sessions...

* * *

"Sasuke Uchiha and... Naruto Uzumaki, you're up!" The teacher was beaming at the raven haired prodigy. Even if they had come to accept Naruto for the most part, many of the teachers still favored those with clan bloodlines, going so far as to give them special attention. The boys stepped into the ring, Sasuke falling into his clan's basic stance while Naruto stood with his hands at his sides.

"What's wrong Dobe? You already forgot how to fight, or do I just scare you with how good I am?" This, of course, brought squeals from the Sasuke fan club. Naruto, however, smiled. "Why should I be scared Teme? I've yet to see you do anything impressive." Finally, he shifted his stance to something only his friends had seen him practice. He stood with his feet firmly rooted, yet somehow, managed to have a fluid grace at the same time. "Kobushi no Sekai Ryu: Kazenagare!" (AN Fist of the World: Windstream)

"Oohhh! This is gonna be good! Give that bastard hell buddy!" Kiba roared from the sidelines. Shikamaru only smiled knowingly along with Hinata and Ino. Choji had decided to pay a little more attention to this fight than his bag of chips.

"Just so you know, this is the first time I've tried this style in actual practice. Try to stay up so I can have a bit of fun eh, Teme?" This had the desired effect. Angry at being taunted, Sasuke charged forward, feinting with a left cross before shifting his weight into a kick with his right leg instead. Naruto flipped onto his hands to avoid the kick, springing into the air and twisting his body to land a kick on the back of Sasuke's skull, knocking him out in one shot. "Ahh, damn. I thought I told you to stay up. I really wanted to test out a few more attacks.. Ah well."

Naruto walked out of the ring, towards his group of friends, giving them a thumbs up, while the Sasuke fan club screeched in horror. One pink haired banshee, the leader of the pack, tried to talk the teacher into punishing Naruto. "Hey, he didn't even use academy taijutsu, and he hurt Sasuke-kun! You said no excessive force, sensei!"

"Ah, Haruno-chan, Sasuke was also using non-basic taijutsu. Besides, he's fine. See, he's already waking up. I'm not going to punish a student for excelling." Indeed, Sasuke had sat up, glaring daggers at the back of the blonde's head. "Oi, Dobe, what the hell was that? How dare you have that kind of power! I demand a rematch! Unless that was just dumb luck and you're too scared to actually fight me."

Naruto chuckled, turning to look the other boy in the eyes. "No, I'm not scared at all, Teme. Right now, you're below my level, and I really don't want to hurt you too badly. A wise person once said that unnecessary fighting only leads to further chaos.. or something like that. You should be mind your pride. Some day it will get you in trouble."

The bell rang out for classes to end, so Naruto bid his friends farewell, promising to see Ino and Hinata for dinner. The two were spending the night at Ino's that day, and Reina was making ramen, which assured the young boy's attendance. First, though, he had to work at Shinrei's place. He was greeted there, as usual, by Tenten.

"Hey Naruto! Dad's in the back again. I think he's gonna teach you something new today. Something about the mana elementals or something. I couldn't really understand." She went back to flipping through a weapons magazine while he went in the back. There Shinrei was, and laid out on the heavy workbench were several types of materials.

"Ah! There you are kid. Time to start learning how to do something besides stoke the fire. Did you know that you can make a weapon out of things other than metal? Of course, it all depends on what you're making. Take a set of knuckles for example. Sure, you could use cloth or metal, but you can also use wood, bone and stone! Of course, even though you technically can use such things, it's not always advisable. Keep in mind, that whatever you're making has to have the right type of strength to hold up to the beating it'll get in the field. Also, the kind of material you choose has it's own elemental affinities. That's why it's important for those who utilize elemental chakra to choose their weapons carefully. Should they choose a weapon of the wrong material, their jutsu could be weaker, not work at all, or at the worst, backfire completely!"

All that day, he spent memorizing what could make which weapons, and the affinities that that weapon would have. At the end of the day, Shinrei pointed to an ingot of black metal. "Good, you've just about got it all. There's one more thing though. This is a rare metal that we call chakra steel. Even though it has no luster, it's worth is far more than that of gold or platinum. This steel is attuned to all of the elements, but it's so rare that weapons made out of it can fetch up to a years worth of ANBU pay. With this metal, you can also store the essences of the elementals, making the steel even stronger. To do so though, you would need to have access to mana crystals. That's enough rambling from me though. It's late, go on home and get some sleep."

He left the shop with his mind full of possibilities. In his mind, he had already begun to design the perfect weapon for himself. No doubt that's exactly what Shinrei wanted to happen. Once he arrived at the Yamanaka house, he shook the thoughts out of his head so that he could have a nice meal with his friends.

* * *

After the first two years, I had learned just about everything I could from Reina-san, but she insisted that I show up for dinner at their place after working with Shinrei every day. It was only my last year of school that I was allowed to try my hand at the forge, making simple kunai at first. Apparently, I had talent though, because Shinrei gave me a heavy ingot of chakra steel for my birthday that year, telling me to make weapons of my own. He said that he had that much faith that I would graduate. That year, after months of work, I created what I had been designing in my head all those years. I named it Tsukihitsume, because, even though I forged it from black steel, it glowed like the moon. (AN Moonfire claw.)

Also, that last year of school, my sensei was one who I will always respect. His name was Iruka Umino, and he was one of the very first people to accept me for who I was. The greatest tool of a ninja is that of deception. That's what Iruka taught me. I began to shroud my potential away from the rest of the class, especially Sasuke. Over the years, he had begun to slip into insanity. The death of his clan made him hunger for power. Inoichi had tried to lock away the worst of those memories, but watching his family die at the hands of his brother for 24 hours under the spell of the mangekyo sharingan proved too strong a memory.

Graduation day came soon enough for us all. Iruka was making an attempt to calm our unruly class. Finally, he had to resort to his patented demon head technique, instantly quieting the entire room.

* * *

"Good, now I can hear myself think. Now, the tests will consist of a written portion, an athletics portion, and a jutsu test. I expect all of you to do your very best! Now, begin the written test, you have an hour."

Naruto flipped the page over, grinning. He realized that, yet again, a genjutsu had been cast on his test. However, he hadn't been studying for nothing. Spiking his chakra ever so slightly, he broke the illusion without alerting his classmates. After that, the test was fairly easy for him. He had even flat out refused help from Yuuko the few times he got stuck. Before the hour was up, he had set his pencil down and propped his feet up on the desk, earning glares from both Uchiha and Haruno.

'What's that baka Naruto doing, finishing before Sasuke-kun? I bet he just gave up because it was too hard. Yeah, nobody could do better than Sasuke kun!' The pink haired girl shot the blonde one last glare before returning to her usual routine of staring at Sasuke. Said boy was raging to himself as usual though. 'That idiot.. How the hell can he be that much better than me? He's not even from a clan! He should just be useless fodder!'

"Alright, time's up! Head outside. Make sure you all have your equipment for the exam." Iruka made his way around the desks, gathering the tests. Naruto stood, making sure his utility pouches and kunai holsters were in place before strapping Tsukihitsume to her place at his left hip. He caught up with his friends, and together, they went out to the field.

"Oi, Naruto, I've been wondering about something for a long time now. Are you a burn victim or something? You've always had your arm bandaged up for as long as we've known you. What's up with that man?" Kiba was trying to get Naruto to take off the bandages, while Naruto was avoiding Kiba's hands. "My little secret man. For now, you'll just have to wait until I have a reason to show you."

Kiba crossed his arms in defeat, puffing his cheeks out comically. "Well, if you aren't gonna tell me that, at least tell us where you live. We tried following you home one night, but you kinda disappeared somewhere around.." He was cut short by Ino's fist colliding with the top of his head. "Baka! You weren't supposed to say anything!"

Naruto chuckled at the antics of his friends. Kiba and Ino were fighting, Shikamaru was watching the clouds, a single "Troublesome" Escaping his lips. Choji was trying to avoid suspicion by burying his face in his ever present bag of chips, and Hinata was poking her fingers together shyly. "Well, I guess I have been a bit too secretive about that huh? Tell ya what, after we all graduate, I'll take you all to my place." He pulled Hinata's hands apart, smiling at her. "Don't worry about it, alright?"

"Well isn't this touching. It's the Dobe brigade. Why don't you and your whore get a room?" Sasuke strode up the the group, fan club in tow. "Or is it that you like that mutt boy better? I never knew you were like that."

Naruto lifted one eyebrow, looking at the boy with a puzzled expression. "I think you've got your wires crossed Teme. You have how many girls that follow you around everywhere, and have you even considered a single one of them? With your obsession over being better than me, I might just think that you've got the hots for me." Sasuke's face turned red at his own comment being thrown back at his face, and was just about to react when Sakura decided to chime in.

"Ino-pig, how can you even hang around an idiot like Naruto? Sasuke is so much better than him in every way!" Sakura once again tried to make her onetime friend see the light that was the last Uchiha. Ino merely scoffed at the idea. "How can you say he's an idiot when he's at the top of the class? Just because he doesn't flaunt his skill like Sasuke, that doesn't mean that he's any weaker. If anything, it makes him that much better." Sakura was stumped. She hadn't even taken the time to think about that. All she knew and cared about was that Sasuke didn't like Naruto.

"Well, he's still cooler and cuter! I bet if they got into a serious fight, Sasuke would win hands down." Satisfied that she had won the argument, she turned to see Iruka walking towards them with the rest of the class in tow. "Alright, are you all ready for this part. First up is target practice. Sasuke, you first."

Sasuke performed well as usual, managing to hit all of the targets, save one, dead center without making it look difficult. Once he had gathered his kunai and got out of the way, Iruka called the next person out.

Hinata, and Ino, who had been practicing together with Naruto and the others managed to hit all but two of the moving targets, Shikamaru matched Sasuke's score, much to the outrage of the ever present fanclub, and Kiba and Choji Managed to miss four and three targets respectively, their forte being close combat.

As usual, Naruto was close to the last of the batch. He made his way to the line, shooting Iruka a confident grin. "Sensei, are we required to use basic projectiles? I have something that I want to try out." Iruka raised one eyebrow. "Sure, as long as it's a throwing weapon, it's fair game. Are you sure you want to try out something new on your graduation test though?"

Naruto only grinned wider in answer, reaching into one of his pouches to pull out several mini-chakrams, throwing them all at the same time. At first, it looked like he threw them all in the wrong direction, but they hooked int the last second, leaving long gashes through the center of each target before flying back to the blonde who caught them effortlessly. "Well, they may not do quite as much damage as shuriken or kunai, but when you know how to use them, it's hard to lose any." He grinned again, rubbing the back of his neck as he heard Hinata, Ino, and Kiba cheering that he beat Sasuke.

"C'mon, that's just unnecessary guys. Being happy for me is fine, but we don't need to sink to his level, do we?" They had the good graces to look embarrassed, which only made him chuckle.

"Naruto-kun, do you think you could teach us how to use those throwing weapons? Something like that has to be good for combat." Hinata asked with a blush. She may have lost her stutter, but she still had a hard time talking to him without blushing. He could never quite figure out why, while Yuuko always seemed to know something that she wouldn't tell him.

"Yeah, I think so. It takes a little more control and concentration because you have to throw them just right to get them to come back. I think everybody could pick it up though." Shikamaru decided to speak up for once, catching Naruto's attention.

"It's troublesome to ask, but can I see your palm Naruto? The way you caught those, you should have cut yourself up pretty bad." Naruto grinned, holding his bandaged palm out for him to see. "Nah, don't worry about it. See, I'm alright."

He didn't realize that Shikamaru had been fishing for a hint at what was under his bandages, and managed to get quite a bit. Now all he had to do was start fitting the pieces together. Of course, that would require quiet time to think. Something he wouldn't have for a while.

The sparring test followed soon after. Mizuki was the proctor for the exam, and Iruka explained that the students had to last as long as they could against him. The minimum time to pass was one minute. Of course, once again, Sasuke was first. After an ego stroking by his fanclub, and Mizuki pulling all of his punches, he lasted for double the necessary time.

Ino had managed to last the time limit, just barely. Hinata excelled, employing her clan's juuken style with practiced ease. Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji all passed as well, managing to avoid or block Mizuki most of the time.

When Naruto was finally called, he could see the glint in the silver haired teacher's eyes. Over the years, he had come to distrust Mizuki, and now he could tell that the man was going to go all out in an attempt to make him look like a fool. Naruto stepped into his Kobushi no Sekai stance, smiling confidently. If there was one thing Mizuki couldn't stand, it was the demon brat looking happy. So strong was his urge to put the boy in his place, that he charged in, attempting to incapacitate Naruto immediately. However, the boy took hold of Mizuki's fist as it came towards him, redirecting the momentum from it through his body to flow around the man's left side, bringing his elbow crashing into Mizuki's ribcage, effectively winding him.

Backing off to run the clock, Naruto used the remaining momentum to handspring backwards, landing in his solid stance. Mizuki had other plans though. Unnoticed by anybody but Naruto, the older man now had thin blades between each of his fingers, leering at the boy. "Is that the best you've got? Come on, let's try that again!" Deciding to take the offensive for once, Naruto slid into an aggressive stance, charging forward. Thinking he had the upper hand, Mizuki went for Naruto's face, only for the boy to tumble into a tight ball before springing his body outwards, catching the man under the chin with a kick, knocking him out of the ring.

Iruka beamed from outside of the ring, holding his hand up to signal the end of the match. "I can't believe I'm saying this during a test bout, but that's a ring out on Mizuki. Naruto takes the highest grade so far with the only win." The school bell rang out, signaling that it was time to break for lunch. Iruka sent them all on their way, reminding them that they needed to show up at the classroom in an hour to take their final test.

Ten minutes later, Naruto's group could be seen at Ichiraku ramen, Naruto's favorite place to eat. The others could still only watch in awe as their friend consumed impossible amounts of ramen at high speed, while they all took their time eating.

"Hey, Naruto, looks like you've got the top grades so far, huh? Damn man, if I could pull half the stuff you did today,.." Kiba stopped talking to drain the broth from his bowl, sighing with satisfaction.

"Troublesome... You don't really expect us to believe that this was the first time you've used those chakrams, do you? Also, with your schedule, when do you even have time to practice that style of yours?" Once again, the brain of Shikamaru was actively gathering information on his enigma of a friend.

Naruto polished off his eighth bowl of ramen, stacking the empty bowl with the rest. "Hmm.. I wonder. Yes, I do practice with the chakrams, but as for my style... I just kinda do what I feel like. I only gave it a name to make it sound cool." 'Well.. Not really. I do get a lot of practice in the mindscape, and I'm constantly taking advise from Jinn. Can't tell them that yet though.' He hoped he had made his lie believable, and Shikamaru didn't pursue the conversation any further.

Soon enough it was time to head back to class for the final test. Once all of them were seated and quiet for a change, Iruka outlined the final portion of their exam. "You've all done splendidly so far. For the final segment, you will have to pass a jutsu test. You will demonstrate the basic jutsu you have been taught in school. Kawarimi, henge, and bunshin. Enter the room when your name is called, perform, and then head outside. First up is... Shikamaru"

The lazy genius waved to his friends as he went into the room. Those who were left made themselves comfortable and quiet. Naruto and his friends spoke with each other using a form of sign language they had created over the years.

"How do you think Shika will do?" Came Ino's question, addressing the group as a whole.

"Lazy's smart, even if he doesn't like to show it. He'll pass this one easily. How about you Kiba, you still having trouble with the henge?" Naruto looked pointedly at his feral friend.

"Don't worry about me, I've got it now. What about you? Last I checked, you couldn't pull off a bunshin to save your life." The only reply he got to this before being called, was Naruto tapping his temple, grinning.

One by one they filed into the next room until it was finally Naruto's turn. On the only table in the room rested a lineup of hite-ate with the emblem of Konoha engraved on them. Behind the table sat Iruka and Mizuki.

"Alright Naruto, let's see what you've got. Henge first." With a nod, Naruto ran through the simple set of seals, a small smokescreen appeared, and there stood a perfect replication of the fourth hokage, grinning confidently. Another poof of smoke, and Naruto was back to normal, grinning at a glowering Mizuki.

'How dare that demon taunt us by taking our hero's form! If he passes this test... Ah, that's what I'll do!' Mizuki grumbled to himself as he wrote his evaluation. Putting on a friendly face, he looked back up. "Good, next perform the kawarimi with the log in the far corner."

Again, the boy performed the jutsu flawlessly, replacing himself with the log and then switching positions again. Instead of waiting for Iruka to tell him to continue, he blurred through yet another simple set of seals and produced five perfect clones of himself. "So, do I pass or what?"

Iruka laughed as he tossed one of the hite-ate to Naruto who caught it, tying it around his bandaged forearm. "Thanks! Guess I'll see you tomorrow for team assignments. Later Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei." Pulling his scarf over the bottom half of his face, Naruto exited the room and went outside, giving his friends a thumbs up.

"Well guys, looks like we all made it huh? Wonder what kind of team we'll be on though. All I hope for is that I don't get stuck with the Uchiha. I don't think I could handle dealing with a broody power hungry bastard like him for much longer than a few days. I've already had more than enough of him challenging me daily, and stalking me to figure out how I train. Speaking of stalking though... I guess it's time I showed you guys my pad, huh? Shinrei-sensei's given me the day off." With a wave, he bade them to follow, and together they left through the gates, much to the surprise of his friends.

"Wait.. When we followed you last time, we lost you around the shopping district. Now we're out in the middle of the forest?" Choji looked around as if expecting an ambush of some kind.

"Yeah, I normally take a roundabout way through Konoha before leaving. I'm sure you've noticed the glares I get and the mobs that tend to form behind me. Well, let's just say there's a reason for everything, and that's the reason why I live out of the public view. Yet another one of my hated 'secrets that I'll tell you later'." After another few minutes of traveling, the group arrived in Naruto's clearing, mouths agape once they realized exactly where his house had been built.

"You... You built into a tree? How did you manage to do that without killing it? In fact, the tree looks healthier than the ones that we tend." Ino ran her hand over the rough bark of the tree, marveling at Naruto's expertise.

"Hmm... Not quite sure exactly how I did it, but it works. All I can say is that I carved in very slowly and very carefully over the course of most of a year. What are we all doing standing outside though? Come on in!" The blonde opened his door to his guests, ushering them inside where they sat at a low table, carved, once again, by Naruto himself. He went to a kettle of water he usually had over the fire and made tea for his friends before seating himself with them. "So guys, whaddya think? Pretty nice huh?"

The group stayed there for a while, until deciding that they should get home and sleep before team assignments the next day. Each of them made Naruto promise that they could visit him there every now and then, even though he had already offered his home as a place for them to rest whenever they needed to get away from it all. However, it still felt too early to sleep, so he decided to take a walk through the woods. It was during this walk that he saw something that surprised him. There, in a small clearing, stood Mizuki with a large scroll strapped to his back.

"Mizuki-sensei, what are you doing out here so late at night with such an important looking thing?" Naruto must have caught the silver haired man off guard, because when he turned around, his eyes were wide in shock. "Naruto-kun! What are you... No.. This is perfect. I get away with the forbidden scroll, and you take all the blame!"

Suddenly realization hit him. He had seen that scroll several times when he had visited the third hokage, and he knew what kind of secrets it contained. "So.. I knew you were a bastard Misuke-teme, but I never pegged you as a traitor. You've been caught though. Why don't you hand me the scroll before I'm forced to take it from you?"

Mizuki was no fool. He knew that Naruto had been holding much of his ability back the entire time at the academy. In fact, there was only one thing he could think of to try to get out of the situation without being caught either by the blonde or by ANBU if he was stalled for long enough. "Hey, Naruto. You want to know why everybody in the village hates you? You want to know why they call you a demon child and hide their own kids when you walk by? What everybody has told you about the Kyuubi is a lie! The fourth didn't kill that monster, instead he sealed it into the body of a baby. That was you! You're the reincarnation of the Kyuubi!"

The boy merely looked at the older man with a sly grin. "What, you think I didn't already know that I'm the jailer of the Kyuubi? She's really not as bad as you might think. In fact, because of this, she's not bad at all..." He tore the bandages from his arm which he had worn to cover the brilliant silver gauntlet for several years. "Not that you would know what it is, but that's not really important. As a shinobi, it is my duty to punish traitors like you."

Naruto drew Tsukihitsume from his left hip, the normally black blade glowing like its namesake in the silvered hand of the boy. The light seemed to follow the blade like a flame, or the tail of a comet as he stepped into a modified Kobushi no Sekai Ryu stance, the blade held behind his back in a reverse grip. "I'll let you be the first to see this. You should feel honored. Ken no Sekai Ryu: Kido no Yasei!" (AN sword of the world: the wild path)

He dropped his stance lower, one palm touching the ground while the other hand held the glowing blade behind him, eyes always locked in his opponent. "After you traitor. Make it good." Mizuki, once again goaded into making the first move, decided to hurl one of the giant shuriken on his back at the boy before charging in its wake.

Naruto quickly assessed the situation before his body flowed smoothly through his attack. First, he pushed off with his legs pivoting his body over his wrist to bring his blade against the large shuriken, cutting through the softer metal with ease. Then, bringing himself to his feet, he whirled about, leaving a wide gash across Mizuki's chest. Coming full circle, he planted his foot against the center of the wound, laying the man out on the turf. Sighing to calm himself, Naruto cleaned his blade before sheathing it respectfully. "Hmm, not what I would expect from somebody of your level. You really shouldn't underestimate any opponent, no matter what age he or she is."

Liberating the large scroll from Mizuki's prone form, he unfurled an arms length, scanning the first few techniques quickly. "Hmm.. Kage bunshin? That could be useful..." Just after he had committed the jutsu to memory, Iruka showed up with a stern look on his face. "Naruto! Why would you run off with the forbidden scroll like that? Moreover, how did you even know where to find it?" Iruka watched the blonde's face go from puzzled to a look of deep understanding in a matter of seconds.

"I promise sensei, I had nothing to do with this. I believe that Mizuki-teme must have used a high level henge to disguise himself as me and take the scroll from Jii-san. He must have been studying my behavior in class very carefully over the years. At any rate, I intercepted him right here just minutes ago, realized what he was carrying, and took it back. You may want to get him to a hospital though. I'll leave this with you. You'll be able to get it back more easily than I would..."

"Alright.. It's hard to believe that Mizuki would turn traitor like this though. One question though. What were you doing out here at this time of night? Naruto?" Iruka looked back up from the prone body of his onetime teammate to see that the boy had vanished into the night, soundless as one of the animals that thrived in the woods.

In the Hokage tower, seated behind his desk, the third hokage sat, peering deeply into the crystal ball he used regularly to look into village affairs. He grinned behind intertwined fingers, having followed the exploits of his 'grandson' the entire day. Of course he knew that it was Mizuki who had taken the scroll. He had also known that he would pass through Naruto's territory, and had faith that the boy would stop him. He had also planned on Naruto reading through the scroll. His plan to hand over the kage bunshin technique had gone exactly like he planned. He wasn't considered the greatest ninja in the village for nothing.

* * *

Haha! Well, there you go. My longest chapter yet. You may be saying "So what? 2000 words more than usual?" Well, that's me getting over my slump. Now, I feel I should say a few things about our hero at this point. As you can tell, I obviously didn't make him an idiot. Oblivious to certain matters, perhaps, but not dumb.

Why did Shinrei give Naruto something that valuable? He'd been apprenticed there for most of his young life, Shinrei knew the fourth personally (He helped forge the infamous three pronged kunai), and he likes him. Don't worry though. Everything I talked about will come into play. These last three chapters have really been about setting the world. Now we can really get things started.

As for the styles that he's made for himself... Well, without spoiling much, the sword and fist of the world have quite a lot to do with his inhabitants. Right now, he only has Yuuko and Jinn, so I gave you a little preview of what their influence on the style was. Yuuko influences the wild path, relying on fluid motion, connecting attacks, and anamalistic movements. Jinn influenced the Windstream which uses momentum. Both that of the practitioner and opponent are used to deliver quick, decisive crushing attacks.

EDIT: I meant to put this here earlier, but it slipped my mind. Tsukihitsume is a one of a kind blade. It looks like a cross between a katana, a bastard sword, and a chinese broadsword. It's a little straighter than a regular katana, about as wide as a bastard sword, and tapers into a point instead of rounding into a point. When not glowing, the blade has a runic inscription engraved on its length that reads "For the Goddess was I forged, may her enemies fly swiftly from me." The guard rounds down on the blade side to protect the fingers, and tapers back to two points on the blunt side. The sheath is black with crimson accents, and the hilt is wrapped in crimson cloth with a pommel cap in the shape of a serene fox. He forged it to be able to freely imbue it with the powers of the elementals, but has yet to actually do it.

I may have rushed things a bit while explaining how they grew up, but I really didn't want to go in depth on all of their academy years. Yes, there was Sasuke and Sakura bashing, and I will not apologize for it. It will stay for some time until I can develop the characters away from their current mindsets. Naruto does need his 'rival' after all.

See anything I missed? Anything you don't like? Anything you do like? Tell me about it in a good, long review! Go on, hit the shiny button. You know you wanna!


	4. Chapter 4: Rising to the Challenge

I was asked what Naruto's blade, Tsukihitsume, looked like. Oops... I meant to put that into the authors note in the last chapter. It's there now as an edit if you haven't already looked.

I never said Naruto would be oblivious about the opposite sex, though I can see how you took that from what I said and the chapter. No, he knows everything about it as he should, but you all know how you can miss things that occur right under your nose, yeah? Besides, it's not like they're trying to seduce him or anything. Worry not, it will only be for a short period of time, and will not be mentioned all that often.

By 'rival' I actually meant 'person who obsessively lusts for his strength'. Like I said, Sasuke and Sakura will have their own fair share of character development as the story goes along.

Would you all believe that I am without a beta? Yup, I edit and proofread my own work. I actually like it better this way. I don't have anybody breathing down my neck to meet deadlines.

Now, on to the next chapter, hope ya like it! Remember, I do not own the World of Mana, or Naruto. I merely write a good story by combining concepts. Kick this thing off!

* * *

**Rising to the Challenge**

I couldn't help but be excited that morning. That day, I would find out who would be closest to me for a good many years of my life. I only hoped that I would be with some combination of my friends, and that they would be spared from whatever team Sasuke was put on...

* * *

Naruto awoke early that morning, as usual, and made his way outside to warm up for the day. With Yuuko coaching him from within his mind, the boy ran through several kata from Kido no Yasei, not that kata were terribly important to the style. All the same, he had to keep his body limber enough to keep up with the style. It was in the middle of his practice the he chuckled, flipping the black Tsukihitsume around his newly bandaged right hand before sheathing her. "Alright guys, you're really going to have to try a lot harder if you don't want to be noticed. Come on in, breakfast is probably just about ready."

He threw a towel over his shoulder, partially covering his bare chest which rippled with strong, yet incredibly lean muscle., a product of all his work in the forge, and near constant ninja training, and walked toward the entrance of his home. His entire group of friends filed out of the surrounding woods, both Hinata and Ino sporting deep blushes which they tried to conceal before following their friend inside.

"I didn't expect you guys to show up this early in the morning. Hoping to catch me sleeping or something?" Naruto, still dressed in loose training cloths, began to set the last bits of breakfast on the table. He had been practicing with shadow clones as well that morning, thus the breakfast, and was pleasantly surprised that he was able to remember every little thing his clone had done before it had dispersed.

Kiba grinned, digging into a helping of home smoked bacon. "Nah, we know you train at ungodly hours of the day. How else would you have the time to work on that funky style? Oww!" The feral boy rubbed the top of his head, shooting a glare at Ino who was shaking her own. "In other words, Shika figured it out and told us," the other blonde deadpanned.

Naruto laughed, gently slapping their lazy friend on the back. "That's Shikamaru for ya. I swear, throw this guy a couple of hints, and he could figure out just about anything. I'll bet that he's already figured out one or two of my little secrets, and is just waiting for the right time to bust them wide open. Hopefully not before I get to it though." He chugged down a blend of juice from various forest fruits that he was partial to before slapping the table with his regular hand. "Alright! It's just about time for assignments. I'm going to go get dressed, so I'll be back down in a little while. Don't wreck the place while I'm not here."

Stretching, the boy made his way upstairs, quickly changing into his usual clothing. Meanwhile, downstairs, Shikamaru was in the middle of being interrogated by his friends who wanted to know everything that had been found out about their blonde host. The only one not badgering him was poking her fingers together, desperately trying to hold herself back from using her clan's byakkugan eye to take a peek upstairs.

"Maa, maa, I haven't actually figured anything out entirely yet. I have several theories as to what's under those bandages, but that's about as far as I've gotten. You all know how he keeps to himself with things like that, and Hinata respects his privacy too much to peek underneath. We might just have to actually wait until he decides to tell us.. Troublesome person.."

They all knew the conversation was over when he grumbled about something being troublesome, so they left him alone. Kiba and Choji continued to dig into what little food was left on the table while Shikamaru leaned back and closed his eyes. Hinata and Ino were off in the corner, giggling about something.

Naruto came back down just in time to stop Choji from raiding his smokehouse in search of more food, and together they walked back through the thick woods towards the gates of Konoha, easily slipping through under the noses of the guards. There were also the usual glares thrown in their direction, and many of them could hear comments like 'tainted by the demon' thrown around. Villagers were not well known for tact.

Something about hearing that comment for the umpteenth time clicked in Shikamaru's head though. 'God, sometimes I think the people of this village have black and white mixed up. So troublesome.. They worship that Uchiha, even though he's rotten to the core, yet they clam Naruto is a demon.. Demon.. No, it couldn't be, could it? I'll have to seriously look into this when I get the chance. It might just shed some light on a few mysteries.'

The blonde in question waved his hand over his friend's eyes in an attempt to catch his attention. "llo? He.. Hey! Shikamaru! Get your head outta the clouds for once. We're here." After snapping the lazy boy out of his thoughts, they filed into the classroom, sitting at their usual places. Iruka stepped into the room, closing the door behind him, and stood at his podium with a stack of folders. "Alright, welcome, and cogratulations on making it to team assignments. I'm going to announce the teams. You will be working in three man squads under a jounin-sensei. Squad one is.."

Every student paid rapt attention to the assigning, Naruto's group holding their breaths while hoping that none of them were assigned to the Uchiha's team. "Team seven will be... Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and.. Shikamaru Nara. You will be training under Kakashi Hatake." Sakura seemed to be the only one happy with that arrangement, cheering that she was on the team with her Sasuke-kun. Sasuke grumbled under his breath, shooting a glare at Naruto. He was angry that he wouldn't be able to see exactly how the blonde had gotten so good. Shikamaru uttered a single "Troublesome" While being patted on the back by a relieved Naruto.

"Ah, tough break buddy. The odds were good that one of us would get stuck with him though. I don't need to remind you though, teamwork is key. No matter if those two want to do things their own way, you need to cram the idea of teamwork into their heads." Satisfied that the class had quieted down enough, Iruka continued. Team eight is Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuuga, and Ino Yamanaka. Jounin-sensei is Asuma Sarutobi" Both girls cheered while Naruto smiled. 'Alright, that's a good team. I'm a power player, but Hinata will be an excellent tracker, and Ino can be a brilliant strategist. Maybe not up to Shika's level, but still quite good.'

"I object! Sensei, why does that loser get to be on a team with the two best kunoichi in our class?" Unable to take it any longer, Sasuke slammed his hands on the desk, pointing at Naruto. Iruka merely looked at the boy like a parent would look at a spoiled child. "Why? These are the groups that Hokage-sama put together personally. That 'loser,' as you call him, had the best scores in the class in just about everything, and has been named rookie of the year. The team was made to balance his and the girl's strengths and weaknesses, just like yours was. Sit down and stop complaining."

Iruka continued once again after he was satisfied that Sasuke understood that he wouldn't be getting his way over the Hokage's decision. "Team nine is Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Choji Akamichi. Jounin-sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi." The stoic, quiet boy who always wore dark sunglasses nodded his assent, the same as both Choji and Kiba. They didn't have a problem with Shino, other than him being mildly anti-social.

"Your sensei should be arriving soon. They'll meet with you, perhaps take your team for lunch, and try to get to know you better. All teams are final, and the council has no say in the matter." Once again, Iruka shot a glance to a brooding Sasuke. It wasn't much later that Kurenai and Asuma entered the room. Each of those teams, save Shino, patted Shikamaru's back, Naruto signaling to meet at his home after the days events.

Asuma decided to treat his new team to barbecue, partly because it was the only restaurant he liked that let him smoke indoors. Once they had sat down and set some meat to cook, Asuma looked around. "I can already tell you three get along quite well. I've been away from Konoha for a while though, so I should do things by the books. I'm Asuma Sarutobi, son of the third hokage. I like training, go, and shogi. I hate running out of cigs and trying to quit. In the future, I plan on settling down with a beautiful woman and having brats of my own." When he had finished, he pointed his chopsticks at Naruto.

"Naruto Uzumaki, son of.." Here he coughed, making the other three raise an eyebrow in confusion "I like my friends, ramen, training, working at the Kireru forge, and gardening. I hate people who think they should be given everything with no work, those intolerant to people who could not choose their circumstances, keeping certain secrets from my friends, and the three minutes it takes for instant ramen. One day, I will be the greatest ninja ever, and unite the great nations to put an end to senseless war."

'Heh! You grew up well kid. Somehow you managed to pull yourself out of the depression you were in the last time I saw you.' He motioned towards Hinata next before lifting a strip of meat to his mouth.

"Hinata Hyuuga, daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga. I like my friends, pressing flowers, and training in Juuken with my father, sister, and cousin. I hate the secrets Naruto keeps from us," She shot a playful glare at the blonde who was eating slowly "and my clan's use of the caged bird seal. One day I will become head of the clan and abolish the branch mentality that my clan has held onto for so long.

'Good strong goals for the future. With an attitude like hers, she'll definitely make it.' Mouth full, he merely grunted before nodding towards Ino for her introduction. Off to the side, Naruto had begun tossing strips of meat into the air with his chopsticks and catching them in his mouth, causing Hinata to giggle at his antics.

"Ino Yamanaka, Daughter of Inoichi Yamanaka. I like my friends, reading, flowers, fashion, and practicing the Yamanaka mind jutsu. I also hate the secrets that Naruto keeps from us, and people who disrespect nature. Someday, I want to start a flower shop of my own and have a nice family." The blonde girl finally began to dig into the cooked food, snatching one of the strips Naruto had flung into the air before he caught it.

'Ah, a girl after my own tastes. Well now, this is a pretty well rounded group. Ino is gonna have to learn a thing or two about close combat, and even though Hinata's a Hyuuga, I'm gonna teach her a healthy amount of jutsu. Maybe even find a weapon that she could use in conjunction with juuken. Naruto... well, not too sure what to do with him. The way pops puts it, he's basically trained himself. Ah, maybe we could work on affinity chakra early with him.' Hey, Naruto. You work with old Shinrei, right?

Mouth full, the boy only nodded, tapping the hilt of Tsukihitsume beside him in a way that clearly said. "I made this myself while working there." before swallowing. "What about it sensei?"

"Thinkin' about a weapon for these two. Hand to hand combat's all well and good, but when your opponent's got a weapon, it'd be a good idea to have one yourself. For Hinata, something that could work nicely in conjunction with juuken. Maybe even extend its range. For Ino, something a little longer in range. What do you think?"

Naruto chewed thoughtfully, sizing his teammates up. "Give me the night, and I can make it. I know exactly what would suit them best." Both girls blushed at the thought of getting to own something that Naruto would create. They had seen how beautiful his blade was, and knew they would be in for a treat.

"Good. Also, think you could sharpen these up for me before tomorrow?" Asuma reached into one of his pouches, producing a pair of identical trench knives which Naruto picked up and examined carefully. "Hmm, chakra steel. Perfect balance for fighting or throwing. These were made by... Heh." Turning them, he saw the faded stamp of the Kireru forge. "Yeah. Shouldn't be too much trouble at all."

Satisfied, Asuma sat back and lit a cigarette, taking a small drag. "Well, I can already tell that you three know the value of teamwork and the ins and outs of each other's abilities, so we don't need a test to fully pass you." The three grinned, having expected something like that to be the case. "But, we'll still run the test tomorrow anyway, so that I can see how far along you are. Meet up at training grounds nine at 0700 hours sharp. We'll be running a mock mission together, but you'll only get the details in the morning." That said, the man stood up and left the restaurant.

Naruto stood soon after, waving to his teammates. "Well, I'm gonna stop by Shinrei-sensei's place and get everything ready for tomorrow. Go ahead and rest up at my place. Shika, Choji, and Kiba should be there soon enough.

After walking through the business district to gather materials for his new projects, the boy entered the forge through the back way to see Shinrei hammering out a new set of kunai. "Yo boss! Gonna make a couple of custom orders. Also, got these to sharpen up, recognize 'em?" The two were used to tossing sharp implements back and forth to each other, so the larger man caught the knives effortlessly.

"Well damn, these have had some wear. Of course I remember these. It was an odd, custom order from the hokage for his son when he graduated from the academy. Well, get t' work boy. It's good t' have you back in the shop."

* * *

I worked all through the night on those weapons. For Hinata, I had decided on a set of tonfa in a material that conducted chakra with ease. There are slips of paper made of trees that have been grown strictly with chakra. These are the slips of paper that are used to test the ckara affinity of ninja. I used this light toned wood as the base of the tonfa, inlaying one with a long golden dragon, and the other with one of silver. To these I added small fragments of polished bone for embellishment.

Ino's weapon was something else entirely. There is a method of making platinum stronger and sharper than almost any other metal. I used this method to craft a long spear. The head of the spear was a wide, arrow like blade, with a raised design that looked as if it was held in the mouth of an engraved dragon that coiled down the entire length of the shaft, ending in a short, sharp spike. I managed to give the platinum of the spearhead a red tint that would not fade, and where the dragon was not engraved on the shaft, I set in dark polished slats of wood.

In both weapons, I engraved the words"May the Will of Fire burn eternal"

These I wrapped in green velvet and carried home..

* * *

Once the boy got to his place, he found all of his friends sleeping soundly on futons that they had brought. He grinned to himself before creeping upstairs silently to avoid waking them. He set the newly forged weapons against the wall along with his Tsukihitsume. Not bothering to undress, he climbed on top of his mattress and fell asleep within seconds, thankful for the warm summer night.

Morning came swiftly, but Naruto's friends didn't bother to wake him until they had finished preparing breakfast. Ino and Hinata went upstairs to get him up, throwing curious glances towards the two bundles beside his blade. Once they had finally shaken the boy awake and dragged him downstairs to eat, they asked their question.

"Say, Naruto.. Those bundles up there in your room. Those are what you spent all night making, aren't they?" The boy merely grinned and nodded, mentally thanking Yuuko for her healing abilities. Through careful study of the boy's body, she could now even heal his mental fatigue, allowing him to get a full night's sleep out of only a few hours if need be. "Yup, that would be it. You'll get to see them when we start the mission today. Speaking of, do any of you know what your mission is?"

Everybody shook their heads at the same time. "Well, Kurenai-sensei took us out for lunch, and we all introduced ourselves. Shino's actually a pretty interesting guy if you can ever get him to open up." Kiba scratched the back of his head, his dog Akamaru barking in agreement. Choji only nodded as he continued eating.

"Sounds like it went well for you guys. Our sensei is.. Troublesome. He shows up two hours late, tells us that his first impression is that he hates us, and to get to the top of the roof for introductions. Once we get there, we learn virtually nothing except his name. Uchiha starts spouting his typical 'clan restoration, kill the traitor' act. Haruno only acts like a fangirl. Then, we're told to meet up at 0900 hours for our test, and told not to eat in the morning." The lazy boy grumbled to himself as he took another bite of his breakfast. "It's too troublesome to go hungry though. I don't care if this test makes me puke."

There was a communal shrug before Naruto finished his food and went upstairs to gather his supplies for the day and to secure his blade to his hip. He paused momentarily to look at his bandaged arm thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll tell them soon.. Ah, gonna be late if we don't hurry it up." He slung the two bundles over his shoulder and rushed out the door, leaving a hurried goodbye to Choji, Shikamaru, and Kiba.

The three managed to get to training ground nine in record time, arriving several minutes before they were expected. Turning to Hinata, Naruto unwrapped the tonfa, holding them out to her. "These are yours now Hinata-chan. Their names are Tengokuryuu and Jigokuryuu. (AN Heaven Dragon and Hell Dragon. Cheesy, I know) Two pillars that support the world."

Hinata took the tonfa, marveling at the craftsmanship, and at how strangely right they felt in her hands. Of course, she hadn't ever practiced with anything like them, so for now, she tucked them away in her belt.

Next, Naruto unwrapped the longer bundle before handing the long spear to Ino. "This is Kokorotoge. (AN Mindthorn) From what you've told me about higher level Yamanaka jutsu, you can use them in conjunction with a bladed weapon like this. I hope you enjoy it.

Ino was left just as speechless as Hinata was. She hadn't expected Naruto would be able to create something like this, much less both weapons, in the span of one night. Also, like Hinata, she had no weapons training other than basic academy weapons, so she found a way to strap the spear to her back.

Asuma showed up soon after, whistling at the craftsmanship of the new weapons. "Well now, you did this in just one night? I'm impressed. What about my knives, were you able to get to them?" His answer was a smaller velvet bundle tossed by Naruto. Inside were his blades, keener than he could remember them ever being, and with the Kireru forge emblem re-stamped into the metal. "Nice. Now, on to our mission of the day. There is a team that has been out of the academy for a year now. They go by the name of team Gai. Their sensei and his protoge have figured out how to cast some kind of genjutsu that makes you see a sunset and crashing waves. I know it doesn't sound all that bad, but trust me, it is. We are going to go confront them and try to learn how to dispel this jutsu, for the sake of all Konoha ninja!"

There was a single noise of conformation from the three gennin, and all traces of them vanished from the small clearing they had been standing in seconds before. With practiced ease, they flew through the branches of the trees surrounding most of the training grounds, following their sensei until they reached a new clearing.

In the center of it were two people clad in tight green spandex with neon orange leg warmers, matching bowl cuts, and even eyebrows. These two were trading blows frantically while shouting something about youth. Off to the side was a long, raven haired Hyuuga practicing juuken by himself, and a short ways away was somebody that Naruto easily recognized as Tenten, throwing various sharp implements into a set of already beaten and shredded training dummies.

Asuma signalled for Naruto to take the younger boy in the center while he tackled the older one. Hinata and Ino got orders to keep the other two busy should they attempt to interfere. After three quiet nods of conformation Naruto and Asuma both sprung into action, interrupting an attack from their respective targets while Hinata and Ino crouched, ready to leap into the fray should it be necessary.

Lee looked in confusion at the other boy who had blocked a kick directed at his sensei with a single bandaged arm before recognition set in. "You are Naruto, the rookie of the year in your class, are you not? Why are you here" As he spoke, he twisted his body around to land firmly on the ground.

"Nothing personal Bushy Brows. It's our gennin test. I need you to tell me how to dispel that crazy genjutsu you and your sensei have come up with." Naruto pushed the hilt of Tsukihitsume around behind his back and assumed his unarmed Kido no Yasei stance, fingers splayed to act as claws while crouching low to the ground. "No weapons, straight up taijutsu fight. That's how you do it, ne Bushy Brows?"

Lee grinned, assuming his own taijutsu stance. "So the rumors about you were correct Naruto. You do have honor in a fight. I was hoping that I would be able to challenge you soon, and then you bring the fight to me instead."

Without a signal, the two boys charged each other, knowing that neither could goad the other to attack first. Lee threw a strong right cross, the speed of which took Naruto by surprise. Unable to dodge, the blonde channeled a small amount of chakra into his hands, grasping at the ground beneath him as the punch connected with his shoulder. With that maneuver, he was able to stay in place as well as judge the strength and speed of Lee's attacks. He also realized that his current style wasn't suitable for such a fight.

The blonde switched gears quickly, using residual momentum from the blow to roll to his feet, immediately switching to his Kazenagare stance. Lee followed through with his attack, using his current downward motion to flip around, turning a fall into a heel drop which Naruto dodged around. The next set of attacks set the trend for the rest of the match. Lee followed his heel drop with a spinning kick which Naruto caught against his side. The blonde held Lee's foot as he followed the attack through, pulling the other boy off of his center of balance. Still holding Lee's leg, Naruto rolled to the side, twisting his opponent upside down. However, Lee caught himself before he hit the ground and used his superior leg strength to throw the blonde up into the air. Both seemed to be at a standstill as the match continued, neither being able to get an upper hand on their opponent.

Asuma and Gai seemed to be locked in a similar situation, Gai having drawn his nunchaku while Asuma had his blades attached to his fists. They seemed to banter like friends in the midst of their fierce battle, laughing and talking about team strategies.

It was around this time that Neji and Tenten finally came to their senses, and rushed to help their teammates, only to be cut off in mid-stride by Ino and Hinata.

"Ah, Hinata-sama. This is your gennin squad mission then? I take it your sensei wants to find out how to break those maniac's horrid genjutsu. As a team, it's our duty to help out, kindly step aside." Neji dropped into his juuken stance, while Hinata did the same. "Sorry Neji-niisan, I can't just let you go through. Our orders are to intercept you should you try to join."

Tenten noticed the weapons that the girls had with them and peered more closely at the blonde who was in the middle of yet another grapple battle with Lee. "Ahh.. I shoulda known it was Naruto's team. Only he and my dad know how to make weapons as beautiful and deadly as those look. I'm jealous. Blondie-chan, do you think I could look at that spear of yours?" The weapons mistress had a lustful glint in her eye.

Ino gripped the shaft of her weapon protectively as she stepped into what she hoped would be a good stance. It felt right to her anyway. "I'll have to say no, sorry. I just got it you see, and I don't like losing pretty things. It makes me angry." Tenten stuck her tongue out playfully at that. "Aww, I just wanted to inspect it. Only thing Naru-kun's made for me is these.." The girl reached behind her back to produce two exquisitely designed silver knives, holding them in a reverse grip. "He seems to have a habit of crafting weapons with expensive materials for whatever reason."

A tag team fight began between those four, those on either side watching the other's back. Ino and Hinata together managed to hold Neji and Tenten in mostly one place. The more experienced duo was slowly gaining ground though.

Back in the center of the clearing, the two boys stood panting slightly. Once again, Naruto and Lee faced each other, waiting and watching for even a momentary drop in the other's guard. "You're good Lee! I haven't had this much fun sparring since I first started. I could always manage to get my opponent to lose their head and rush right in. Not you though."

Lee gave a quick thumbs up, flashing a grin at his blonde opponent. "I'm impressed Naruto. You've surprised me. I had just suspected that you were one of those who earned rookie of the year through clan ability or ill gotten power. Now that I have faced you, I can tell that you have worked just as hard, if not harder, than I. Let us be eternal rivals on the battlefield of youth!"

Naruto grinned back, nodding his assent. "I don't know about youth, but where hand to hand combat is key, you and I will most definitely be the strongest of rivals." As if in a sudden agreement, both dropped out of their stances and shook hands firmly.

They had both overheard Asuma and Gai talking to each other during their fight, and from that Naruto had learned the name of his opponent, and Lee had guessed the reason for the interruption of his training. "As a show of good faith Naruto, I will teach you how to break through our genjutsu. I can not use jutsu, but that does not mean that I have no chakra. Gai-sensei has figured out how to draw out and use my chakra himself. It is a common mistake that people think Gai-sensei is the only person involved. The key to breaking the jutsu is in cutting the chakra flow between us. I will leave figuring that out to you though."

Naruto flashed a grin before blowing a sharp whistle, a signal to his teammates that he had accomplished their goal. The other three immediately pulled out of their respective bouts and vanished into the surrounding threes once more, leaving Neji and Tenten confused. The brown haired girl looked to her equally befuddled teammate. "Neji, do you have any clue what all that was about?"

Neji shook his head as he watched Lee talk with Gai in his usual energetic manner before the two crushed each other in a man hug, tears flowing freely from their eyes as their jutsu activated. "No, not even a clue. I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of that team though. Whatever they were sent to do, they did it.

Team eight panted lightly as they stood in the center of the training grounds they had met up at a few hours prior. Asuma let his students catch their breaths as he waited for the report patiently. Truth be told, he was feeling winded as well, but pride wouldn't allow him to show it.

Naruto took a deep breath, steadying himself before launching into his account. Taking this as a regular mission, he snapped into debriefing mode. "Sir, mission accomplished. After an intense sparring session with Lee Rock, protage of Gai Might, the answer to breaking the sunset genjutsu was revealed by Lee himself. Gai uses Lee's dormant chakra to cast the jutsu. Suggestions on method would be to knock both out, or cut the flow of chakra between them somehow."

Asuma lit a cigarette, taking a deep drag before blowing the smoke out in a ring. "Gai's figured out how to do something like that huh? I always knew the guy was smarter than he let on. Hinata, you and Ino did well today against those two. You held them back long enough for Naruto to get our answer. Well done all three of you. Let's call it a day though. I'm beat from going toe to toe with that maniac. We will begin training right here at 0900 hours tomorrow." His three students nodded in agreement before breaking off, each headed towards their houses to get some well earned rest.

As Naruto walked through the woods towards his place, he delved into his mindscape to find Yuuko kneeling in the center of the meadow as usual. The fox spirit smiled and bade him to sit with her. "Good work today Naruto You held your own against a more experienced opponent quite well."

Naruto chuckled, keeping part of his mind outside of his body to safely guide him home. "Couldn't you tell though? Lee was holding back quite a bit. He had incredibly heavy weights under those leg warmers, so he wasn't even moving at top speed. I'm going to need to work a lot harder if I'm supposed to live up to being his rival.

* * *

Ino opened the door to her home, greeted by an ecstatic Reina and Inoichi. "Hey, there's our princess! We hadn't seen you in a couple of days. Fill us in on everything. Who's in your team? Where did you get that spear?" Inoichi added the last question, noticing it shortly after Ino had propped it against the wall.

"Well, it's not the Ino Shika Cho trio that you thought it would be. It turns out, Naruto had the best grades in class, so he was paired with Hinata and I. We all finally figured out where he lived though. We were there so late waiting for him to finish up at the forge last night that all of us just kinda spent the night. Our team passed the second exam before we even took it, but Asuma-sensei had us run the test anyway. During that, we figured out how to beat some strange jutsu these two weird guys made together. As for Kokorotege here, that's what Naruto was doing at the forge all night. He made weapons for Hinata and I." Ino kicked off her shoes and at down on their couch, breathing a sigh of relief.

"You were what? He did what? What?" Sure Inoichi had been following the escapades of the younger blonde with interest, but too much had been said that was a shock to his system. No Ino Shika Cho trio he could handle. Finding Naruto's place was an accomplishment, as only the Hokage had known where the boy lived. His daughter staying at a boys house crossed a line he hadn't wanted to even see for years. He reasoned that they had found a way to break the thrice damned sunset genjutsu, and that was another shock. The last was how the boy had managed to create such a deadly work of art in a single night. Then it hit him. Shadow clones.

Reina helped her husband sit down as he struggled to come to grips with a few choice bits of information before going into the kitchen to make some tea. Inoichi would need it to calm his nerves, and Ino would appreciate something to help her relax.

* * *

Hinata was sitting down to dinner with Hiashi, her sister Hanabi, and Neji, each having already given their account of the day. "It seems like you've been well placed my daughter. However, I have to ask about those tonfa of yours. I have a feeling that they are more than they seem."

Hinata nodded, setting her chopsticks down before removing the light yet sturdy wooden tonfa from her belt, handing them to her father. "Naruto made them himself at Asuma-sensei's idea that juuken's range could be extended and the effects translated over a wider area. I have yet to try though." Hiashi was one of the few who believed that the juuken was stagnating with the restrictions on creating variations of the style. Even so, he had to see it for himself before he would allow it. "These were made just to your arms Hinata, so you should test them out instead of me. After dinner, we will go to the dojo."

Hiashi was surprised at what I had done with those simple weapons. I guess the thought had never occurred to the Hyuuga to use chakra wood in weapons, because once Hinata channeled chakra into her hands, the tonfa had the same effect as juuken on the body. Able to disrupt the chakra system as well as cause regular bodily harm. The head of the clan immediately gave his approval for her to develop a juuken tonfa style, saying that he would force the Hyuuga council to accept it and that she would open the way for new progress by doing so.

* * *

For months on end we trained under Asuma-sensei, Hinata and Ino quickly acclimating to their weapons. Soon enough we were asked to have a rematch with team Gai under the pretense that they wanted to see how far along our skills had progressed. Lee still didn't remove his leg weights to fight me, and this time I barely managed to pull of a win. Ino and Tenten fought to a draw, and Hinata, with her increased range, power, and flexibility of style, tied with Neji. Asuma and Gai were pleased with the outcome, knowing it would push both of our teams on to new heights.

During our training, we also ran several D ranked missions. They were boring, but training is training. It wasn't until our fourth month of training that we received our first high level mission. The four of us stood at attention in front of our hokage, awaiting our next mission..

* * *

"Team eight. I am pleased with your progress. This is why I will be giving you a mission to bolster team seven's ranks. There was a situation on their first C rank. Instead of a simple escort mission to the land of Wave, missing ninja have become a factor. They have refused to give up on the mission, but Kakashi and Shikamaru have sent a request for backup. I'm not sure if the other two on that team know the request, but once you arrive, you will be taking the lead. Team seven is currently holding position ten kilometers east of the gates. Meet up with them ASAP and finish the mission." The old man grinned to himself. As soon as he had given them their mission, they had broken ranks to prepare. He was confident that he had placed the mission in good hands.

Shortly after receiving the mission, team eight met up at the gates of Konoha, each carrying a single scroll at their hip. "Right, this is our first serious mission. With the inclusion of missing ninja, it's been bumped up to an A rank. Let's get this done and done right." Asuma grinned at the end of his short pep talk. His students had come a long way from when they first met. When they needed to, they all acted like a team, but under it all, they had become the best of friends. "Move out!"

Naruto took point, running at a dead sprint with the rest of his team following close behind. Within a few hours of travel, they caught up with team seven, the three gennin waving to their friend. "Oi, couldn't handle this kinda thing yourself huh Shika?" Ino giggled as she gave her friend a hug. Sasuke and Sakura glared at the blonde boy who pointedly ignored them, opting to introduce himself to the client.

He extended his hand to the older man. "Naruto Uzumaki of team eight. As of now, we'll be taking charge of this mission. These are my teammates, Ino Yamanaka and Hinata Hyuuga, and our Jounin-sensei, Asuma Srutobi."

The old man took Naruto's hand, grinning. "Glad to see they finally sent some real ninja out to help. The other team's sensei and that Shikamaru are good, but then we have an overconfident little snot, and his rabid fangirl. Name's Tazuna by the way."

"Well then Tazuna, let's get you home. Kakashi, have your team guard the rear. Naruto, you and I will take point. Hinata, Ino, you take the flanks." Asuma's orders were quick and clear, but before Naruto took his position, he handed Shikamaru a small bag. "Here's a set of those mini chakram. Always meant to get them to you, but it seems like you've been pretty busy." The lazy boy grinned at his blonde friend, taking the bag and stashing it out of sight. "Yeah, Uchiha's a troublesome handful like we thought he would be, and Haruno's just about useless. I have a feeling there's a reason why Kakashi got Sasuke though.

The brooding boy in question watched their exchange, only hearing the part about the chakram. "Oi, Dobe, why not spread them around? Don't just cater to your friends." Naruto gave him an incredulous look. "What, and let you cut your hand open the first time you try to use them? It's either that or lose them outright, and these things are hard to make. I've already taught Shikamaru how to use them properly. Maybe if you get your head out of your ass, he'll teach you." Turning back to his friend, he held another whispered conversation.

"So, you figure out what kinda weapon you like best? If it's something I can make, I'll see to it if there's a forge handy at Wave." The dark haired boy nodded. "Yeah, I've gotten pretty handy with a nodachi. If you could pull it off, that would be good." Naruto grinned. "Ahh, that does fit you pretty well. Hell of a lot easier than Kiba's request. He wants me to make a set of wrist claws."

They broke away and went to their positions. Since Tazuna was an older man and had no ninja training, they had to move at a fraction of their normal speed, though they still made good progress. It was only in the midst of a patch of woods that they encountered anything at all. It was Naruto that heard the first sounds, a soft rustling behind tall ferns. Acting purely on instinct, he lobbed a kunai in that direction, giving pause to everybody, and startling Tazuna and especially Sakura.

"Naruto-baka! Don't go scaring us like that!" The blonde shot her a piercing glare, lifting a finger to his lips as he crept towards where he had thrown his knife. What he found was a pure white rabbit, startled to the point that it stood perfectly still. 'Odd.. I know a thing or three about the wildlife around this area. Normally these rabbits have their dark summer coat by now. This one was raised indoors. Kawarimi?' "Everybody, be on guard, we've got company somewhere!"

"Heh, perceptive brat! But, you're just a little gennin, don't get ahead of yourself." The voice echoed from all around them. "Are you all ready to die? Here we go.."

Naruto picked up a faint wooshing sound and hit the dirt. "Everybody get down. Now!" Asuma knew to trust Naruto's judgement in cases like this and went down along with Ino and Hinata, Kakashi pulled Tazuna to the ground, and Shikamaru grabbed both Sasuke and Sakura down with him. Not even seconds later, a large blade flew through the air where their necks had been before embedding itself in the trunk of a tree. When they looked up to see what had happened, they saw a tall, well muscled man wearing black and white camoflage. The lower half of his face was wrapped in bandages, and he word the headband of Kiregakure at an angle across his forehead, a long scratch running through the village emblem. This man was standing on top of the blade that had just been thrown.

Kakashi recognized the man in an instant. "This is not good. I was hoping we wouldn't meet somebody like him. He's in Konoha's Bingo book, listed as Zabuza Momochi, the demon of the mist."

* * *

Cliffhanger! Woo! Well, I wrote this one up pretty quick neh? Hope you enjoyed it. Once again, let me know all about what you do and don't like through a review. Any suggestions? Review! Yes, I am changing cannon quite a bit here, but I'm sure you already noticed that in the first chapter.

Till next time, this is Nenacu saying, hit that shiny button!


	5. Chapter 5: Strength within Sorrow

Well here's the next one. I'm just fulla inspiration lately, and it makes me happy. Still stuck behind by block on ToLaD though. Maybe I'll hammer the next chapter there out after I finish this one.

Graity: Yes, I know it is unrealistic, but this is a story based off of an anime where there are ninja with supernatural powers, and a video game series where weapons are created in mere seconds. Glad you enjoyed the rest of it though.

Orbis: Thanks for the breakdown. I'm steadily trying to get myself to make the chapters longer. I would cry too. I have my own personal copy of LoM. The case is beat and battered, but the disc is in perfect condition. I must burn through that game at least three or four times a year. I would weep until I had no more tears left if anything happened to it.

Don't own Naruto or the World of Mana. Never will. Kick it!

* * *

"Where was I? Ahh, yes, that's right. Zabuza. Let's continue where we left off, shall we?"

* * *

**Strength within sorrow**

Naruto cracked a grin, making several hand signs from the ground that his friends interpreted as, "Four on one. Even if this guy's a missing ninja, he's got no chance. Especially if the others join in." To this, they showed a single hand signal. One that usually meant, "After you."

The blonde stood, Ino and Hinata following suit, and each drew their weapons. "Demon of the mist huh? I think you chose a poor fight. Don't underestimate us simply because we're gennin. Even of one of us can't match your skill, you are still outnumbered."

Kakashi threw a confused glance at a grinning Asuma who merely nodded towards Tazuna. "The kid's got a plan. I say we let them try it out. We'll take care of the client. If things get out of hand, we can step in." While they got into position, Zabuza dropped onto the ground, wrenching his tremendous blade from the tree.

At a silent signal from Naruto, Hinata and Ino vanished into the surrounding thicket, leaving the boy and the older man in a staring contest. "That's a nice blade you've got there brat. Once I kill you, I'll have to take it for myself."

"You can try, but you'll never lay a hand on her. Tsukihitsume is picky about who holds her." He slid into his Kazenagare stance, blade tip pointed directly at Zabuza's heart. "However, she rarely cares who she bites, so be careful."

"Interesting stance brat. I don't think I've seen that one before. It won't matter though.." With practiced ease, the larger man hefted his blade as if it only weighed as much as a regular katana, and delivered what would have been a crushing downward blow to the boy had he not shifted his body at just the right time, using the flat of his own sword to deflect the blade before translating the momentum through as a kick to Zabuza's stomach.

Zabuza jumped back to avoid the blonde's foot, and began to appraise the boy more carefully. "So, you play it that way? Interesting, you're far better than I thought. Still, it's not good enough!" Unseen to him, Naruto grinned behind his crimson scarf. He had drawn the attention. It was almost time to set the plan in motion.

"Let's try this one then, see if you can keep up." Flipping his blade into a reverse grip, Naruto crouched low to the ground, free hand splayed like and blade held parallel behind his back. He jumped forward towards Zabuza who merely held his blade in front of himself to guard. The blonde switched tactics in an instant as he grabbed the spine of the massive blade in mid air and flipped over bringing his heel down on the back of Zabuza's skull. Once he landed, he attempted to follow through by spinning back around, blade back in a standard grip for a strong thrust.

Once again, Zabuza's reflexes were good enough for him to dodge out of the way of the thrust, jumping and rolling off to the side. Naruto gave a sharp whistle, and all of a sudden it seamed like a platinum spear grew out of the ground right next to Zabuza's feet. Ino followed close behind, wrenching the heavy head out of the ground before deftly swinging the crimson blade towards the man who had managed to dodge yet again.

Naruto came over the top of Ino, using the shaft of her spear as a springboard to leap high into the air. Another sharp whistle echoed through the clearing, and Hinata jumped into the fray, mimicking Naruto's movements perfectly to line up directly behind him as a shadow.

Zabuza had been too distracted by the boy's airial antics, and had gotten an eyeful of the sun. As a result, he missed they Hinata's ascent completely. When the boy came down, he had been surprised. Having expected another calculated attack, he was met with a grapple instead.

Naruto had taken hold of Zabuza's shoulder and swung behind him. Using both arms and his blade, he managed to get the man in a double arm lock. It didn't matter that he could be thrown away easily, all he needed to do was hold on for a few seconds.

Hinata flipped her tonfa around to extend their range and they flared with her chakra. She performed a single flip as she fell to gather force, and at the end of her rotation brought her weapons crashing down on either side of Zabuza's neck where she knew two main tenketsu to be, shutting them off.

Kakashi watched in awe. Here it was. This was the teamwork he had been trying in vein to teach his team. Each of them on their own would be little match for such a strong opponent, yet together they had dealt a crushing blow. They trusted each other without question, almost instinctively playing out their part exactly when necessary. "Sasuke, Sakura. Watch this carefully. This is how a team is supposed to work together." He said nothing to Shikamaru. The lazy Nara had been preaching to his other teammates about this particular subject since the teams were formed.

Back at the fight, the odds had been evened. By limiting the chakra flow to the rest of Zabuza's arms, they had cut a fair amount of strength and speed from his attacks. However they tried though, the more experienced ninja managed to avoid any further attacks, wearing their endurance down until Hinata and Ino had to withdraw at the risk of being a liability. Naruto panted softly. Even with Yuuko bolstering his stamina, he couldn't draw this fight out much longer. To his chagrin, Zabuza soon managed to free his tenketsu, making yet another attempt to cleave the boy in two.

Unable to stay back any longer, Kakashi and Asuma stepped in to Naruto's defense, bocking the massive sword together. "Naruto, you did well. Fall back for now and leave this to Kakashi and I" Asuma and Kakashi have a heave and pushed the blade back while Naruto went to join the rest of the gennin.

"Sorry you didn't get to play your part Shika.. Couldn't get the bastard in the right place as hard as I tried." The blonde panted, leaning against his lazy friend. "Don't worry about it. It's far less troublesome to have our sensei take care of it. The guy is a missing A rank ninja after all." Sasuke was torn between watching his Kakashi as he revealed his sharingan eye and glaring at Naruto, still at a complete loss as to how the blonde was so much stronger than himself. While he was lost in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed a thick mist that had crept in until Naruto called out.

"Protect Tazuna, this is an assassin's technique!" The six gennin stood around the old man, weapons drawn and ready for any sign of attack. "Heart, lungs, spine, larynx, brain, jugular... All of these places guarantee an instant death. Which should I hit?" The voice seemed to come from all around, all at once. It was Ino that saw it first. Lashing out with her spear, she made contact with Zabuza's stomach, leaving a wide gash before he simply turned into a puddle of water on the ground. "Mizu bunshin! Careful guys, there might be more of them!" With a flourish, the blonde girl brought her spear back to a ready position, eyes watching the mist for anything that moved.

Another came soon after, this one attempting to go through Sakura. The girl could only stare in fright at what she thought would be her certain death until Kakashi came out of nowhere to save her. After dispatching the clone, he turned to her, smiling through his mask. "Don't worry Sakura, I'm not going to let him lay a hand on any of you. I will protect you with my life, because that's what a team is all about." A sudden flare of chakra from the silver haired jounin broke through the mist. "A two bit trick like that won't get the best of me Zabuza"

The fight between them was impressive to see. Kakashi and Zabuza went toe to toe, giving no quarter to each other. Kakashi utilized his sharingan to evaluate and copy nearly every move Zabuza made. Somehow though, Kakashi was caught in a trap. He was pulled under the water of the lake that the two had taken their fight to by another clone of Zabuza. There, he was trapped in a binding jutsu of Zabuza's called the water prison.

Asuma had held back, not one to normally team up against an opponent so close to his level, but when Kakashi was trapped, he turned to Naruto with a small smirk. "This is what I was going to teach you soon, Naruto. For now, just watch and see if you understand." He held his trench knives point up and began to channel wind chakra through the blades. As he did, several inches of pure white wind formed, extending the length of his knives.

Zabuza wasn't quite as ready for the other man as he had thought. He didn't take into account both Asuma's affinity mastery, and his speed. In seconds, Asuma had cut Zabuza's clones down before rushing the other man who was forced to free Kakashi in order to save himself.

From that point on, the two worked in tandem. Kakashi followed Zabuza's every move as before, but Asuma cut in, constantly forcing Zabuza to keep moving. Naruto watched the battle with glazed eyes though. Seeing Asuma utilize his chakra nature had sparked something in the boy's mind that Jinn had been waiting for.

"Naruto! It's time for you to grasp my power. I will guide your body this first time.." The blonde snapped back to attention as the bandages hiding the gauntlet burst apart, Jinn's gem shining brightly. Tsukihitsume, still in his grasp, flared to life at his unbound touch, and as Jinn's power flowed into the blade, it too acquired a turquoise brilliance. Unknown to him, but seen by everybody else, two pure white marks placed themselves above each brow, curving downwards to meet at the corners of his eyes.

Kakashi and Asuma felt the waves of power flowing from the young blonde, and turned to look mid fight despite themselves. As they turned, Naruto charged towards them, eyes locked on Zabuza. When he passed them at such a great speed, they were sure they saw a single ethereal wing sprouting from his left shoulder. It was gone once they blinked.

All present stared in wonder as Naruto attacked Zabuza relentlessly. Any time the older man tried to strike, Naruto would either dodge and counter or use the blow against him. Something seemed off about him though. Almost as if it wasn't even Naruto who was fighting. The battle ended abruptly though. Once the blonde had his opponent pinned against a tree, three senbon flew from the top of another tree, striking Zabuza's neck.

When Naruto tried to find where they had came from, he saw a figure with black hair, dressed in the cloths of Kiri, and who's face was covered by a porcelain mask like that of Konoha ANBU. The figure spoke to them, jumping from it's perch to examine Zabuza. "Well now, I guess I have to thank you little one. You made my job a lot easier by wearing him down like that. I'll be taking my leave now, to dispose of the body." Before any of them could stop him, the hunter ninja of Kiri formed a set of one handed seals, Zabuza's arm slung over his shoulder, and vanished.

Threat gone, Naruto returned to normal. Tsukihitsume lost her turquoise fire, resuming her usual white glow. "He's not dead y'know. That person just hit him in the right place to put him in a deathlike state.. Damn.." He sheathed his blade and turned to his teammates, silver gauntlet in plain sight. "Well, guess I'm gonna have to explain this huh? Just... Let me.. rest a bit..." His eyes drifted closed, and he slumped down to the ground. Hinata, Ino, and Shikamaru were by his side in a flash, Hinata using her byakkugan to try to find the problem.

"I didn't think it could happen to Naruto, but he's suffering from chakra exhaustion." The pale eyed girl turned her gaze to Asuma. "Sensei, he'll have to be carried in. I don't think he will wake up until later tonight." Asuma nodded, lighting a cigarette. "I'll take him. So long as we don't have anybody between us as strong as Zabuza, we should get there safely."

Sasuke could have sang at that point. Not only had Naruto blown himself out completely, but he now thought he knew what had given him all that power. 'Now I just need to take it away from him. Once we get back, I'll just go to the council and they'll make him give it to me along with that sword of his.' Kakashi noticed the hungry look in his student's eye and shook his head, saying nothing. Surely the boy would learn someday, right?

Just like Asuma had predicted, they made it to Tazuna's village without any further incident. They had put Naruto in one of the guest rooms in the house to let him rest. Downstairs, both Kakashi and Asuma were wading through a sea of questions.

"Look, yes, we already knew about Naruto's arm. I was there the day it happened to him. It's not a curse or a bloodline, but that's all I can say. He will have to talk about it when he's ready." Asuma cut off any more questions and looked to Hinata and Ino. "You two will be helping the others train for a while. It seems like Kakashi hasn't had the chance to even show them tree walking chakra exercises yet. Something about a lack of teamwork has been holding them back." Everybody in the room shot a look at both Sasuke and Sakura who seemed to be oblivious to the conversation.

"Heh, I'll say. Lazyass there is the only one in that team who seems to get it." The eyes of everybody in the room, Tazuna, his daughter Tsunami, and her son Inari included snapped to the top of the stairs where Naruto was steadying himself. "Naruto, are you sure you're alright walking around?" Kakashi asked as he watched the boy who shouldn't even be awake yet make his way down the stairs.

"Tch, it's gonna take more than a bit of exhaustion to keep me down. I just need something good to eat, and I can start light training until I get my reserves back up." He sat down at the table with everybody else, and a bowl of rice was set in front of him by Tsunami. "Thank you Miss." He ate calmly, looking at the arm he decided to keep unbound in thought.

Inari, already on a short fuse, snapped. "How?! How can you just pretend you aren't tired at all? How can you pretend you aren't hurt at all? You make me sick! You can just keep going on, happy as ever, can't you?! You don't know anything about suffering, do you?!"

Kakashi and Asuma looked towards Naruto, wondering how he would take such a comment. The boy in question merely set his chopsticks down and turned his gaze towards Inari. "Don't know suffering? Of course I do. Almost everybody in this world has suffered. I don't know your past, but let me tell you a story. One that has been etched deep into my heart. It's the legend of how the world itself came to be. Most people only know the vague details, but I know the whole story from the eyes of the boy in the center of everything. You could say that this is also where my story begins."

Nobody in the room expected a reaction like this. Nonetheless, they quieted, eager to listen to the full version of a tale they had all been told in fragments as children. Sasuke listening intently for any clue that would tip him off to gaining such a power.

"Once, long ago, when the world was a different shape, there was an island in the center of the world that people called Illusia. All the peoples of the world thought of Illusia as a holy place because of an ancient tree that had stood there since time immemorial. The great tree had been cursed, and had slowly turned to stone. The tree was protected by the guardian beast, a white feathered dragon, and the treefolk who lived at it's base. One day, while walking the beach, a woman of the treefolk found a baby adrift at sea. She took the baby in, named him Keldric, and raised him to be a warrior of the treefolk. This is Keldric's story. One about love, and loss. About a maiden who became a goddess, a sacred sword, and the spirits of nature.

* * *

"Bujuu! Bujuu, come here! Keldy, could you get Bujuu for me? He's run off again." A beautiful maiden with long brown hair, and a dress styled after flowers asked her dear friend.

"Sure Ritzia, no problem. Be back in a flash!" The blonde boy dressed in the traditional garb of treefolk warriors dashed off towards the woods where Ritzia's pet had run off to, grabbing a long, sturdy branch from the ground to use as a sword. "Don't hurt him though!" Came another request from Ritzia.

In that day and age, there were a great many creatures that no longer walk this world, or have evolved to cope with the changes that have happened. These, Keldric had to fend off while chasing down a tamed rabbit like creature with no legs and a body that was mostly mouth Ritzia had taken as a pet. It had taken some doing, but he managed as he always did. It was as these two were headed back to the village that the real tragedy began to occur.

From the land of Lorimar, it's king, Stroud, had come for an unknown purpose, invading the island. Keldric and Ritzia decided that the best course of action would be to awaken the guardian beast sleeping beneath the roots of the great tree to drive the invaders away. The roots ran deep into the ground though. The two talked with each other to ease the tension as they made their way down until they reached a chamber in which stood a slab of stone with the image of the tree engraved upon it.

"Just how far down does it go? There's no sign of the guardian beast yet, and we've already come so far." Keldric had been looking around the chamber as he spoke, and had noticed a flash of light near the stone monument. It was a single seed attached to a sturdy vine. Curiosity got the best of him, and he pulled the seed away from the vine to show to Ritzia. "What do you think this thing is?

Before Ritzia could answer, there was another flash of light from the seed. "Oh no! Drop it Keldy, hurry!" Keldric, confused, had held on to the seed for just long enough, and it sprouted in his hand, growing into his flesh until his arm was covered in vines. He screamed out in pain during the process, and when it was done, in his hand, sprouted from the vines, was a sword made up of amazingly stiff plant matter. Somehow, he could will it to shrink back into his hand as well as use the vines as a whip or even a bow.

Even through this shock, they pressed on until they reached another wide area with flowers growing all around. As they looked for the next place to go, eight orbs of colored light flew about before converging in one point directly above their heads. From this light, a spirit child was born. She introduced herself as Faye, and followed Ritzia and Keldric further down, lending magical support to Keldric's fighting.

When they had finally reached the bottom, the beast was nowhere to be found, instead a giant crablike monster resided in the cavern. After a long and arduous battle, Keldric felled the beast who told them not to wake the great tree with it's dying breath. Ritzia though, was lured to a root of the tree that was not yet petrified by a voice that only she could hear. Once she touched it, a darkness surrounded her. Outside, the tree shined brightly in welcome of the maiden's touch. Not long after Ritzia touched the root, King Stroud and his golem army found and captured them. Ritzia, Keldric, the village elder, and another guard named Lekius who was a longtime friend of Keldric's were brought to the stone dais under the tree.

"Heh, now that you're all here, you will tell me how to open the door to Mavolia!" Stroud pointed his sword between the eyes of the elder who merely shook his head. "Mavolia? But Illusia is supposed to be a holy ground!" Lekius was silenced by one of Stroud's golem guards. "Fool, this island is the very door to Mavolia! Now tell me!"

"If you open the door to that cursed land, the whole world will be enveloped in darkness! Thanatos spirits will corrupt every living thing on the planet!" Stroud grinned maniacally "You think I care what happens to this world?" Keldric had enough of the talk. In his desire to protect Ritzia, he brought out the sword and attacked Stroud who merely threw him to the side. "So, you'd rather I kill everybody? Let's start off with that tree maiden."

"Stop! The key to that cursed place is deep in Wonderwood." The elder cracked, moving to help Keldric back up. "Heh, you're easy to sway. Take them away." Lekius and the elder supported Keldric while the golem guards led them back to the village.

"There's something about that boy..." Stroud looked thoughtfully at his hand as his masked advisor come from seemingly nowhere. "Well, he does have that sword after all. The tree must have splintered off and planted itself in his arm." Stroud shook his head turning to face the other man. "No.. that's not it. Never mind. It's nothing."

Back at the village, Keldric and Lekius had escaped, and stood under cover in front of the village gates, plotting a way to retrieve Ritzia who was to lead the golem army to the key in Wonderwood. "Listen Lek.. The village needs you to stay back. I'll go get Ritzia." Lekius nodded, and Keldric ran off, Faye flying close behind. "What.. was that?" Lekius watched Faye in wonder.

Keldric tore through monsters and the golem army single handedly. Over rolling planes, through old ruins, and the deep wood. At the end of it all, he found Ritzia who had managed to escape, talking to the guardian of the woods, an giant sentient tree, known as Treant. Soon though, the key that Treant was hiding began to react to Ritzia, corrupting the him and twisting his form into that of a dark mirror version of himself.

Steeling himself up, Keldric had Ritzia retreat before he went into battle with the grim Treant. He used fire at the base of the tree to open up the weak spot, an eerily glowing mass of crystal inside of the tree's mouth. Soon enough, the crystal shattered, expelling a high volume of ink black mist. Before the mist cleared, a black, slightly organic looking sword flew from Treant's mouth as he returned to normal.

"I.. I kept that filthy sword locked away in my body for so long.. But it seems I've reached my limit." Treant's body began to glow softly as he started to fade out of existence, his life up. "Bearer of the sword, you must go to Mortmont and seek the retainer of the earth.." With these words, Treant faded from existence.

Behind them, the masked man appeared, flying into the clearing on the back of a dragon, and lifted the sword from the ground. "A sword made by the power of the spirits and anointed in the dark power of the Echoes... This is truly the holy Sword of Mana!" As he spoke, the blade began to glow with a dark energy. "I think I'll have you accompany me on my errands.."

Ritzia placed herself in front of Keldric, arms spread wide. "Keldy, run!" Keldric looked at the girl in concern. "But.. Ritzia.." She looked back over her shoulder, tears forming in her eyes. "Please Keldy! You have to go! For the sake of the world.." Keldric understood, and much as he hated it, he ran at full speed towards the mountain. "Foolish. I have a good idea where he's headed. There's no way to escape from me now." The masked man raised his hand, and the dragon he had ridden on flew off after Keldric.

Once again Keldric was on the run with a horde between him and his goal. With firm determination, he cut his way through, Faye lending her magical abilities to heal and empower him as well as weakened incarnations of the spirits who transferred their power into fragments that Keldric could fire from the vine bow. In this way, he made it to the peak of Mortmont to find Gaia, a sentient stone face carved in the side of the mountain that held the knowledge of the ages. There the dragon caught up with him, and with Gaia's help it was defeated. Gaia, however, was too hurt in the fight and disappeared much like Treant, but not before freeing Flammy, the guardian beast from his care.

Flammy and Keldric, and a surprise ally in the form of Watts, a king from another land, drove the golem army from the village, only to learn that Ritzia had been taken to Stroud's battleship at the coast. Leaving Flammy to further protect the village, Keldric rushed to the beach. As always, Stroud's golem army was there to get in his way. Though he was becoming increasingly skillful with the vine sword. He was careful to take out anything he was seen by and boarded the massive ship. Soon enough, he found Ritzia, but she wasn't herself. Almost as if she couldn't see him, she spoke in riddles to herself. Keldric led her up to the deck of the ship while trying to find a way to escape, but Stroud was waiting for him, and in his hand was the dark sword.

Keldric was still no contest for the man who had increased his strength through his use of the black sword of mana. After a brutal fight, in which Keldric managed to hold his own, Keldric began to glow with a brilliant light in his determination. His sword had also gained the same light, and a mark in the shape of a dragon appeared under his left eye, matching that of Stroud's. With a battle cry, he charged Stroud who turned the cannons on the ship's deck towards him and fired. Faye used her powers to create a shield to lessen the impact, but the blow still threw him from the ship and into the ocean. Stroud, seeing that he still wasn't finished, fired the cannons again, and was satisfied by seeing the light fade. Ritzia, returned to her senses, saw this and lost all hope.

As Keldric drifted across the waves, dark powers stirred in Illusia. Ritzia and Stroud opened the door to Mavolia, freeing the Thanatos spirits. Every one of the villagers in Illusia were corrupted by the spirits, those of weaker hearts transforming into dark wraiths. The boy washed up on the shore of the mainland, and checked on Faye. There was a bright light, and the spirit child changed before his eyes, becoming more adult. Keldric was found by Watts, who was forced to retreat from the isle. Together, they wandered the world for many months, rescuing those whose hearts were pure enough that they were not possessed, and gathered a resistance. Their final battle was at the castle of a land called Jadd.

Keldric stood among the dunes, waiting for the right time to attack. "Keldy.. what are we going to do after this?" He looked over at Faye who was floating just beside him. "After this, we go back to Illusia. No more wandering for us." Faye nodded, and the time came to move. After breaching the gate and entering the castle, they were confronted by a large glowing sphere with several smaller spheres orbiting around it. These, one small boy had told him, were made by a guy with a bow, and grim beasts emerged from them. Through arduous fighting, the orbs were destroyed one by one, allowing access to the upper floors. Surprisingly, there was a city under siege within the very walls of the castle. After destroying even more of the spheres and liberating the townspeople, the top floor was reached. There, Keldric came face to face with something that chilled his very soul. Lekius, consumed by the Thanatos.

"Ah, Keldy. It's good to see you again. Ritzia wants to see you too, you know. If you give yourself to the Thanatos, I can take you to see her!" Keldric shook his head, emotional torment playing out in his eyes. "You know I can't do that Lek..." Lekius closed his now blood red eyes and took a deep breath. "That's too bad. You see, I've been ordered to retrieve the seed of the tree whether you're alive or not." Keldric felt the bile rise in his throat all through the battle with his once best friend. In the end, he won out, killing Lekius in order to free him from the Thanatos. In a final moment of clarity, Lekius told him to return to Illusia and free Ritzia.

Keldric and Watts had formed a plan for returning to Illusia. There was a tower that would temporarily weaken the Thanatos when activated, and that would be when Watts could make landfall. Of course, it was Keldric that would climb the tower and activate the mechanism. The landing was rough. Keldric passed out, and woke up in the forest he had chased Bujuu in, by a tree that he had once carved his and Ritzia's names in when they were young. Ritzia was there, but wasn't quite herself again. After urging Keldric to kill Stroud and take his place, which Keldric refused before rushing off, pushing all thoughts aside from his mission out of his mind.

Everything went smoothly until just after the machine was turned on. The masked man made another appearance out of nowhere. "Just a moment Keldric." Keldric turned around, surprised at the voice. "You again?!" The man nodded taking a few steps forward. "The journey ahead will be a challenging one for you." Keldric looked down at his vine covered arm. "Probably.." The masked man took another step forward. "At this point, I don't think you'll be able to finish what you started." Keldric drew out his sword, readying himself. "Maybe not, but I'll try. I don't have anything to lose!" In a flash of light, a long, thin sword appeared in the man's hand. "Well then.. I am neither human nor corrupted by Thanatos. I maintain the knowledge of a millenia, and my soul wields the spirit's power. I shall open a path for you. See if you can outdo me, Keldric. But I shan't hold back."

It was yet another brutal fight. The man wasn't lying when he said he wielded the power of the spirits, and he used that power to great effect. Eventually though, Keldric persevered and cut him down, only for him to stand right back up. At the moment Keldric cut the man, his sword began to glow brightly on it's own. In his words just before he too vanished, the man revealed that he was the one who first held the sword that Stroud bears, and that it was he who sealed the first tree maiden away when both she and the sword became corrupted by Thanatos. He also revealed that Stroud was Keldric's brother.

Of course, Keldric was shocked at the news, but h logged it away for later. There were far more important things to dwell on. Watts had made landfall, and had formed a beachhead, from there going on towards the ruined village at the base of the now black tree. It was easy enough for them to make it through, but at the end, near the caves, Keldric fought the golem general. He won out of course, but the general blew himself up at the mouth of the caves, collapsing them. He was at a loss on how to continue when Flammie came out of hiding to find him. With the sacred beast's aid, he made it to the top of the tree where a fortress had been built.

It wasn't as easy as before. It could have been fatigue from fighting through the tower, and then a battlefield, but Keldric had to fight tooth and nail to break through. Eventually, he found his way from the top of the tree, down, using a network of tunnels that had been hollowed out. When he finally reached a large set of gates, he had to pass through the strongest of the golems that he had fought. Winded and worn, he passed through the gates to find Stroud sitting on a throne with the black sword in hand.

"So.. You survived eighteen years just to come back and annoy me? Well done dear brother." Ignoring him, Keldric looked around the room. "Where it Ritzia?" In answer to his question, there was a plume of black mist on another throne, and Ritzia, having taken the dark form of the first maiden, Anise, stood up. "Why did I throw you into the sea in the first place when I should have finished the job properly from the start. No matter, I'll just do it now. First, let's cast off some dead weight." Having paced to behind where Ritzia stood, he plunged his blade through her back. Keldric caught her before she hit the floor, but she soon vanished.

Bathed in rhitous fury, Keldric stood, blade shining brightly. He and Stroud fought nearly dead even this time, though Keldric had become a better swordsman. When Stroud seemed to be on his last legs, things took a turn for the worse. Ever hungry for power, and unwilling to believe he could lose, he called more and more Thanatos into his body, changing his form to that of a giant wraith. Still, Keldric fought on and destroyed this form as well. Stroud returned to his previous shape, prone on the ground with the black sword just within reach.

"Ah.. You never wanted to save the world, just the girl. And I've already killed her. So, what will you do next? Keep running in circles, slashing at anything that gets in your way? A fate fitting a brother of mine. Build a new world., a world of darkness, using your blade, freshly anointed in blood!" With crazed laughter and black mist, Stroud faded from the world. However, from the mist sprung the form of Anise. As if reading the look on Keldric's face, she spoke.

"That man's sword could not kill me. Even that shiny blade of yours cannot destroy me." Keldric reached for her, but she floated up into the air. "Ritzia!" She looked down on him, contempt clear in her eyes. "Ritzia? She no longer exists. Tonight, the real destruction begins. And when we have the full power of the tree and the spirits, the Echoes will finally be free!" Before Keldric could say anything more, Anise vanished further into the tree.

Keldric ran deeper in, his breath ragged. He fought through twisted passageways that led to a distorted room, returning to this room several times, but walking along a different wall each time. Eventually, he made his way to a chamber with no floor. Somehow, he was able to stand over the empty space. Anise stood in the center of the chamber, waiting for him.

"You will soon prostrate yourself at my feet, just like your friend did." Keldric narrowed his eyes glaring at the one who took Ritzia's body. "The world is already like Mavolia, what more could you possibly do to it?" Anise wasn't fazed. "The Echoes are not completely free. They need the seed from your right hand, and the aid of that spirit child. Even now, the Great Tree struggles to thwart the release of the Echoes. But, I should be able to convince it once I have the seed the Tree spawned, and the Thanatos take you." Keldric took a step forward. "Then.. What Ritzia said that day in the forest was.."

Anise turned around continuing on. "Yes, I made the girl say those things, but I believe she was thinking about something else at the time. She realized that the only way to revive the great tree, which had been accumulating echoes for so many years, was to open the door one again. And in opening the door, she learned one more thing. To revive the great tree the keeper of the seed must become one with the liberator of the echoes, bu piercing her through with his sword." She turned about again, blood red eyes glittering with malice. "That's why Ritzia is actually looking forward to being slain by you!"

Keldric, looked down, uttering a single word. "No..." Anise began to gather her black power. "And now, it's up to you, o keeper of the seed. Will you help me release the echoes, or destroy them, and Ritzia!" Keldric brought his blade up, steeling himself. "I see you've made your decision already. Well then, I'll drink a toast to the Echoes, with a chalice of your blood!"

As her power gathered, Anise changed into a terrifying form. Much like the Medusa of legend, riding atop two great serpents joined at the tail. Keldric could not even scratch her unless he weakened the snakes, and then that only gave him a moment to deliver any sort of damage to Anise. Through a battle of attrition that left him severely weakened, he eventually won out, returning anise to her usual form.

Raising his blade to deliver the final blow, memories of Ritzia rushed in, and he found himself unable to strike. "It's no use.. I tried, but I couldn't do it... "Tears streamed down his cheeks as he fell to his knees. Faye spoke in a kind voice. "Keldy.. Let's go.." Keldric looked up, trying to stop his tears. "Yeah, but Faye..." Faye shook her head "Ritzia wouldn't want a world enveloped in darkness. She wants you to make the world beautiful like it was before. Follow the voice of your heart Keldy. Ritzia and I are always with you. We wouldn't let you carry this burden all by yourself."

All the while they were talking, Anise had gathered some amount of her strength back, but turned around to see Keldric wrapped in light, and his sword shining brightly, Faye lending her power to him. "Ritzia.. I didn't want it to end this way, but you know if have no choice!" With a pained cry, he charged forth, striking Anise through the heart. Suddenly the world was bright, and he and Ritzia were floating in the vast white. They extended their hands towards each other, and once they touched, the seed that planted itself in Keldric's arm reverted to normal in Ritzia's hand. "Ritzia, it's time to go.." Faye gently floated down with Ritzia, away from Keldric who was still trying to reach out. He watched as Ritzia, Faye, and the seed combined and then vanished.

Outside, the Tree began to glow, pushing back the darkness that had flooded the world. The castle that had been built in it's boughs crumbled to dust, and multi colored light spilled forth. At the room of the seal, the great tablet cracked and broke down the middle, crumbling as well. Suddenly, the tree was wreathed in gold, and an ethereal woman appeared over it. Spreading her arms as if to embrace the world, the lights spilling from the tree took the form of the spirits, and then a great sword appeared in her hands. This was instilled with the power of mana, and dropped to earth, embedding itself in the ground nearby.

Keldric, beaten and exhausted, looked over the village he called home. With a sad smile on his face, he turned his tired blue eyes to the tree, seeing in it both the faces of Faye and Ritzia. He made his way to the base of the tree, and lay down in a bed of moss between the roots, falling asleep for the very last time...

* * *

Naruto himself was holding back tears, while all around the table were doing the same, save Sasuke who seemed to be logging the whole thing away. "That.. That is a life that I have never lived, but have experienced many times. Inari, I don't think anybody can know suffering as Keldric did. That is why I can always move forward, because I have followed him, and I know his pain. We must always move forward for what we want to protect. Never forget that."

Shikamaru suddenly understood why he had been telling them that particular story. "Naruto.. That thing on your arm then. Is that really what I think it is?" Naruto flexed his fingers, looking down at the silver gauntlet. "Aah.. This is the Sword of Mana that has been sleeping for centuries. I'm sorry I kept it secret from everybody, but I didn't want to be looked at any differently than you would any other ninja. I wanted to earn everybody's respect the right way.

"Tch.. Dobe, you have a thing like that? No wonder you always beat me. You just relied on that to get the job done for you, didn't you?" All eyes turned to Sasuke, and all aside from Sakura contained hard glares. Naruto merely waved it off. "You know Sasuke, you might just want to consider something. Why is it I haven't used this.." He flexed his fingers again for emphasis. "On anybody until now? I couldn't. You saw what using it did to me. I'm down on my dregs after a few seconds. No, this is something I will only use when it's truly necessary. I may just decided to keep it unbound for a while though." The blonde, who had been eating throughout his story, set his chopsticks down and stood back up. "If anybody needs me, I'll be wandering the village." With that, he limped out into the night.

Kakashi cleared his throat, glancing at Asuma who had regained his composure. "We have decided that during the downtime, Naruto will help Tazuna out at the bridge. In the meantime, Sasuke, Sakura, you will be learning from Ino and Hinata. Shikamaru will be assisting Naruto.

Outside, Naruto took a deep breath of the chilly night air. He was on a mission now. His friend had given him a request, and he meant to fill it. However, he was having a rough time finding just the right material to use. That was when he saw it. Discarded at the edge of town was a lump of obsidian. Grinning, he reached for one of his storage scrolls and added it to his collection. When he turned about, there was the small form of Inari watching him.

"Naruto.. I'm sorry I acted that way.. I was only thinking about my own problems.." Naruto lifted his hand to stop the small boy from continuing, a kind smile on his face. "It's alright. We are all selfish at times. Hey, think you could help me with something? I've got an order to fill, and I'm going to need an extra pair of hands to help out. Think you'd be up to it?" Inari smiled and nodded, moving forward to help Naruto walk towards the town's only forge.

The rest of the group saw very little of Naruto and Inari for the next few days. Shikamaru was stationed at the bridge to protect Tazuna while Ino and Hinata struggled to help Sasuke and Sakura learn something as basic as tree walking chakra exercises. Ino had decided to work with Sakura, who learned it quickly after a healthy amount of one sided argument about how she was winning Sasuke over. Hinata was having problems though. Sasuke, ever proud, just wouldn't take her advice, and had even tried picking fights. On top of that, she couldn't even count the number of times he made suggestions that she 'help rebuild the Uchiha clan' as he put it.

In three days, Naruto and Inari had finished their work. Bandages were wrapped around Inari's hands, and he handed a blade of moderate length to Shikamaru. "Here, Bro and I finished it finally. Lazy bastard had me do most of the work though." Naruto chuckled, ruffling Inari's hair. "Don't let him fool you, he really just ran the bellows and fed the fire. The kid was the one who wanted to learn though, and now he's got his start."

Shikamaru shook his head before unsheathing the straight blade. His eyes widened at what he saw. The blade was made of jet black obsidian with flecks of deep red. At the base of the blade was a silver design that resembled stag antlers. The hilt and sheath were both jet black, and nondescript to fit Shikamaru's style of staying in the shadows.

"Kageojika's a little brittle compared to metal blades Shika, but his bite is better by far. Don't go blade to blade with him, and you should be just fine." Shikamaru grinned, kneeling to thank Inari. Sasuke shot a glare to Naruto, puffing himself up. "Oi, Dobe, why is it only he gets something good? Make something for me too. Make a sword just like that one." He gestured to Tsukihitsume at Naruto's hip. Naruto merely blew a sigh.

"You know Sasuke.. You still haven't really learned anything yet, have you? I don't care what kind of troubles you've had, or whether the council thinks the sun shines out of your ass or not. Nothing gives anybody the right to demand something that they don't deserve. What reason do you have for me to do anything for you? Because you're the last Uchiha? I'm the last of my clan as well. Because you lost your parents? I've never even met mine, or known the feeling of a loving family. We're a lot alike in most regards. One of the only differences between us is that I work for my strength, and I don't complain when nothing goes my way. You expect everything you want to be given to you on a silver platter. No Uchiha, you will have nothing by my hands until you prove yourself worthy. I make these weapons to protect my precious ones when I can't be around. You who reject even a helping hand would only hurt yourself with one."

Sakura was livid. Here Sasuke was, giving Naruto a chance to finally be useful, and he threw it back in his face. He had belittled Sasuke's past by claiming to have just as hard of a life. She was about to let loose when she was stopped by Kakashi placing a hand on her shoulder. "No. Leave him alone. Maybe this will start Sasuke thinking about his own attitude. You could use a look at yourself as well you know?"

Naruto waved, heading upstairs to get some sleep before the next day, but as soon as he lay down and closed his eyes, he delved into his mindscape. He saw Yuuko there as usual, kneeling in the grass, but Jinn was strangely quiet. "Yuuko, sorry I haven't been here in a little while. I've been a little busy outside as I'm sure you've noticed. I need answers now though. What exactly happened to me back at the fight with Zabuza? What was that strength?"

Yuuko closed her eyes, breathing a deep sigh. "First, I should tell you this. It would seem that my power is not as cleansed as we once thought. Though the Sword has changed me from a demon, it is still a caustic power to all but myself. That said, I used my influence over your chakra system to bridge Jinn's power into you directly. This has severely weakened both you, and him. He knew this though. He was the one who convinced me to act."

Naruto knelt in front of her, taking a deep breath. "So that's why I've been feeling off the last few days? How much damage was done to my chakra system, and how long until it's safe for you to work on? In this battle with Zabuza, I'll need all my strength."

Yoko looked away, trying to hide her eyes. "I.. I don't know. Naruto, if I had known what that would do to you, I would have never allowed it. When I give you my power, it already puts a serious strain on your system, but when Jinn added his.."

Jinn's light, airy voice sounded from all around, though he sounded more tired than usual. "What Yuuko is getting at, is that we nearly killed you with that little stunt. Your chakra paths were almost completely shot. She has been working tirelessly to restore you, By tomorrow, you should be able to fight effectively, but you won't be fully recovered for several weeks to come. That is a power that you will one day be able to harness at will, but not until Yuuko is entirely purified. That itself may take many more years. The sword is still weak. It requires more of the spirits to regain it's full potential."

Naruto stood, placing his hand on Yuuko's shoulder, squeezing gently. "Don't worry about it. We'll move on as we always have. Take it slow and steady." He was interrupted by something he heard outside of his mindscape. It sounded like both the slow dripping of water, and the clear chime of a crystal bell. Jinn chuckled to himself. "Well now, perfect timing as ever."

Naruto opened his eyes and looked around. It appeared to still be around midnight, and everybody save Kakashi was asleep, the latter taking the caution of a night watch. Silently, Naruto slipped out of the building, following the strange sound for nearly an hour before he stumbled upon a forgotten ruin in the center of a lake. Curious, he strode atop the water, moving slowly to avoid straining his already damaged body, to the center of the structure. Heeding a familiar feeling of being called, he sat in the center of a shallow pool of water. He was mildly surprised to see a small portion of the water rise up from the pool and take the form of a small woman. Instead of legs, she had a long tail, much like that of a fish. Her skin, eyes, and hair were various shades of blue, and in her hand was a trident that looked like it was made of pink coral. Recognition set in for the blonde, and his eyes widened slightly. "You're.. Undine of the water, aren't you?"

She closed her eyes and bowed, glad to leave the introduction out, before speaking in a clear, gentle tone. "Yes Naruto, I am. Welcome. Welcome to the ruins of what was once known as the water palace. As you have no doubt guessed, I am showing myself before you, because you are ready. From me, there will be no test. I watched you during your struggle with Zabuza, and saw what I needed to see there. I will join you now. Who knows? Perhaps my cooling presence may speed your healing." In a bright blue flash that forced Naruto to shut his eyes, Undine entered the gauntlet, a deep blue gem forming in one of the empty slots to mark her presence. Inside of his mindscape, a lake formed itself near the center of the plain

Yuuko watched as it formed, curious until she heard Undine's voice. "Greetings o mighty Kyuubi, brother Jinn. I know you both were listening, so I shall not repeat myself." Yuuko moved closer to the lake, looking down at her reflection in the water. "Yes, I understand. Please, just call me Yuuko though. I left my demon title behind me several years ago, when Naruto first touched the sword." Undine took physical form over her lake, looking up at the sky. "Very well then Yuuko. Let us work together. Jinn, it's time to pick yourself up, we have work to do."

Naruto made his way back to Tazuna's house, sneaking past Sakura, who had picked up guard duty after Kakashi, easily and climbing back into bed. The next day came quickly, but before anybody else woke up, Naruto created a single shadow clone, sending it to work with Shikamaru while he went out to get his body back into shape. Away from other people, Yuuko could heal him much faster. He still didn't want people to know about her yet, and that was agreed on by the three voices in his head.

For the most part, he spent his time in deep meditation, forcing chakra to flow through his strained network so that Undine and Kyuubi could heal them to a decent level of capacity. Once that was done, he drew his blade and began to run through some of the basics of kenjutsu. Before long, under guidance from Jinn, he was trying to draw wind chakra into the blade at will. By the end of the day, he had made a minimal amount of progress in that regard, but he was conscious enough about his condition that he didn't work any further. Instead of even going back to Tazuna's place, he opted to sleep out in the open, seeing as his bunshin had yet to dispel.

It was misty the next morning, as a figure of mid height, and long raven hair made it's way through a small clearing, bending here and there to gather various medicinal herbs. This same figure happened upon a boy, sleeping in the dew with a content smile on his face. The boy was immediately recognized as the same one who had fought, and injured, it's partner, Zabuza. One purple nailed hand went into the depths of it's robe, grasping a weapon to take the life of the sleeping boy when it reconsidered. Instead, the blonde was shaken awake, and shown a kind smile.

"Good morning." Naruto opened his eyes to these words, looking up into the face of a beautiful girl. He grinned back in return. "Morning. Didn't think any of the villagers would come out here this early." He sat up, easily working several kinks and cramps out of his muscles before noticing the small basket held by the girl. Moreover, he noticed exactly what she was picking. He leapt to his feet, gesturing at the gathering of plants. "That's some pretty potent combination there. I just happen to know a thing or two about herbal remedies and poisons. This looks like the last stages of a cure for temporary paralysis. Isn't that right, hunter-san?"

The girl was taken aback. "How.. How did you know it was me? The last time I was anywhere near you, I was under a mask." She took a step back, reaching for a hidden brace of kunai. Naruto merely continued his stretching. "It's actually pretty easy. The androgyny, the voice, even your scent are all the same. I'm not an idiot, as much as a certain member of Kakashi's team would like everybody to think I am. Subtlety is one of a ninja's greatest assets. If you notice all the little things, you learn so much more about the world around you." He looked the girl dead in the eye, his fox grin returning. "I'm not going to attack you here. There's a time and a place for all things. You didn't take me out in my sleep, I won't lift a finger here. If I may ask though, what should I call you?"

The girl relaxed slightly while Naruto knelt to pick a few of the herbs necessary for Zabuza's cure. "..Haku. You're not like most other shinobi, are you? Why are you helping me now, when I was about to kill you a second ago?" The blonde stood back up, dropping a bundle of herbs in the basket. "In truth? You two don't really seem all that bad to me. A man I look up to once taught me to look underneath the underneath. I'm sure Zabuza-san has his motives for what he does, as do you. He seems precious to you. By what little I've seen during this conversation, I could almost guess that you see him as something of a father figure. Most of all, I guess you could say I'm recruiting. Konoha could definitely use strong ninja like the two of you. If our goals line up, I would like to call you comrades. Tell Zabuza this. Uzumaki Naruto, the blonde gennin, will someday unite the warring nations. In the case that something were to go awry, and open war should start, I would like his help." His eyes hardened as he looked towards the horizon. "However, if I have misjudged his character, and he wishes to continue the endless spiral of war and destruction, tell him that I will end him the next time we meet." With a wave as he walked away, the blonde boy left Haku to her thoughts and further gathering.

Soon enough, Haku had made her way back to Zabuza's base. The entire time she worked on preparing the remedy, Naruto's words echoed through her mind. 'So.. He understands my motivation. How can he read people that well, after only a few minutes. Something happened to him in his life, I can feel it. Something that blew his heart wide open for all to see inside. Perhaps not the best thing for a ninja, but it seems to work for him. I wonder if we should take his offer or not... Zabuza-sama will know. He'll tell me what is right.' She entered Zabuza's room in a daze to see the large man pointing his blade in the face of a small, greasy little man who must have been too dumb to be very intimidated.

"One more shot Zabuza. That's all I'm gonna give you before I take matters back into my own hands. I know I have a lot of boys who would love to cut loose in that tiny little village." The man turned around and beat a hasty retreat, shoving past Haku who had been waiting in the doorway. Zabuza sighed, setting his blade back down before easing back into the couch he had been lounging on. "Haku, what took you? I need to hurry up and get back on my feet." With a nod, Haku handed the remedy to Zabuza who downed it quickly, pulling a wry face. "Nasty. The best medicines always are though."

"Zabuza-sama, I met up with the blonde gennin from before just this morning. He recognized me somehow. However, he didn't even make an attempt to attack, even though I was barely armed. Instead, he left a message with me, to give to you. He said that he will one day unite the nations, and that he wants our help when the time comes. He also said that if you intend to further the wars, he will kill you.." Haku looked down at her hands as if they were the most interesting things in the room.

"Oh? So there's a brat out there with a dream like that huh... Haku, what do you want to do? We've been wandering for a long time now. Even my original purpose has been nearly forgotten, and we've become thugs for hire to trash like that man Gato." Zabuza glanced over at his reflection in his zanbato. "Kiri.. Once I wanted to take it over by force, but I'm not so sure that was a good idea any more. I vowed to get revenge on the damned mizukage for shoving me into that test so long ago, but now he's dead from old age."

Haku was surprised. She rarely ever heard Zabuza talk about his own past. In fact, most of their conversations revolved around two things: missions, and her upbringing. "He sounds earnest, but deception is a ninja's basic tool. I think we should continue the mission, but change the purpose. We should test Uzumaki. If he passes our test, we join him. If not..." Zabuza's gruff voice finished her sentence. "We'll continue as always. Fine, two days from now we mount our attack at the bridge. The events there will determine our fate."

* * *

Haha! Well, that's my longest chapter yet. Sorry about running through the Dawn of Mana story there, and making it a wee bit vague in some places. Yes, I have modified the personalities of both Haku and Zabuza. I hope the idea of Yuuko's power still being that caustic will fly for you all, but if I just let something like that slide by at this point without any consequence, the boy will be far too powerful. Chapter may be a bit boring, but it's a build up. I can't make each and every chapter action packed. Especially when this Naruto has such a dream. Oh, and in the part where Naruto gets Jinn's power for a little while? Unncecssary for the fight, I am perfectly aware, but good for plot development. I think... Besides, Jinn's a bit quick to act by nature.

I found it though. The basis for Naruto's sword that is. I want everybody to look up Kit Rae in Google and check out his swords of the ancients collection. I based Naruto's sword off of his Mithroden sword.

Well then, any questions can be asked through a review. I rather like constructive criticism as well. Why don't you all just hit that shiny button right down there and leave me something to read? Well then, until next time my dear readers.


	6. Chapter 6: The Waves Will Calm

Hmm.. Not much of a response on that last chapter neh? Sorry for the back history laden chapter, but every good story has one or two. That way you, my dear readers, will understand everything that I do. Please realize that just about everything learned in the Dawn of Mana story will have it's own place somewhere. You just may not realize it at first when it rears it's head again. This new chapter will bring about even more changes. I probably don't need to say this at this point, but by plot, personality, and timeline, this fic is strictly AU.

Travis: You may be right about that. I tacked that on for future chapters. I'm actually planning on getting into that soon enough though, so don't worry.

I do not own Naruto or the World of Mana series. Never will. I'd probably ruin either anyway.

* * *

The Waves Will Calm

This is what I've been told, merely a small bit of two other stories that intertwine intricately with my own. The night I had been out, answering Undine's call, two of my companions had dreams of their own. It was a strange experience as they told me. Both shared the same dream, while the world around them was a sea of swirling, brilliant color...

* * *

"Friends and allies of the Mana Chosen, hear me and heed my words." A soft, gentle voice with the weight of one with ages of wisdom behind it echoed over the world from everywhere. "The time will soon come when events that will shape the face of this world will occur. When the time comes, and nothing seems right with the world, watch for my messenger. She will know you. She will guide you to me, and I shall grant you the strength to become pillars of support for the Chosen. Say nothing of this to anybody, the time has not come for the Chosen to know of me." The voice began to fade, as did the sea of color until the sun had it's way, rousing all in the house from their sleep.

* * *

Tsunami had been up early, hunting through the market for what little food she could find to prepare a sufficient breakfast for those in her overcrowded home. Not that she minded the presence of the Konoha Ninja force, but with Gato's blockade, very little could be found. After everybody had finished eating, Sasuke went back out with both Hinata and Ino to continue his training, while Sakura went with Shikamaru and Naruto's clone to the bridge. Along the way, the real Naruto had caught his clone's attention, and switched places covertly. That day went without incident, Naruto creating several clones to help Tazuna who was losing more workers by the day due to Gato's death threats. Naruto himself was working alongside Tazuna, chatting back and forth with the older man.

In that time, Sasuke decided to finally take the girls' advice, and managed to scale the tree, though not without pompous gloating on his part. Hinata and Ino, grateful for the change of pace, promptly ignored him to spend the rest of the day alternating between sparring and hammering out ideas for new jutsu.

That night, each was coping with the knowledge that they would me meeting Zabusa and his accomplice again in their own way. Naruto had retrieved his honing tools from one of his storage scrolls and was tending to the blades of the rest of the ninja, a look of serenity on his face as he made the metal sing in a steady rhythm. Inari sat with him and watched, working on his mother's cutlery in order to learn by sight and feel. Ino and Hinata were talking with Shikamaru, catching up on each others lives, while Sakura made futile attempts to swing the conversation to something she could join in. Sasuke was doing what he always tended to do, brood while glaring at Naruto, and Asuma and Kakashi were talking about old missions they had been on, chuckling every once in a while.

Unknown to everybody else, Naruto was on autopilot. Instead of paying attention to something his hands knew by instinct, he was in his mindscape, conversing with the denizens within. Though Naruto was calm, avoiding the subject of what was to come the next day, the other three seemed on edge. Undine was chastising Jinn for the umpteenth time about being too hasty, while the wind spirit merely allowed her to carry on. If that's what she had to do to cope with her nerves, then so be it. Yuuko and Naruto were in deep conversation about the current state of his body.

"Well, it was lucky for us that Undine showed up when she did. Otherwise, I don't think I could have healed you as far as we have now. That's not to say that you are at peak though. If you try even a few of the stronger jutsu you know, there's a chance you could rupture your chakra coils again. Luckily, you haven't had to show any of them off yet, so it's still assumed that you are primarily a taijutsu and kenjutsu type shinobi. Drawing on Jinn is something else entirely though. As long as you don't try to absorb any of his energy yourself, and merely let it all flow into Tsukihitsume, I don't see any real problems. Undine isn't quite comfortable enough with your body yet to lend any of her power, aside from aiding me with healing you."

Naruto merely shrugged, flexing his silver coated hand in thought. "You know I don't care much about the specifics Yuuko. As long as I'm well enough for what needs to be done at the time, I'm fine. Even then, if I have to push my body to its very limits to protect my allies, I will. It's not like you to be so worried about the future you know. We've always just taken things a day at a time, with only the Tree, and the cease of war as our ultimate goals." He looked up, his sapphire eyes glinting playfully. "Have you lost faith in me Yuuko? You know exactly what I can do, even weakened like I am."

The beautiful woman shook her head while the two spirits gave their argument a rest. "No, never Naruto. I know all too well what you can and will do for your dream." Naruto's hand was placed on her cheek, his fox grin wide on his face. "Good. I need you to have my back in times like this. Just don't worry too much, it's too weird. I have no doubt I'll be fighting Zabuza tomorrow, no matter what he decides. We don't need to worry about the what ifs. What we need to do now, is find the right path. Here's what I plan on doing..."

He came out of his trance-like state shortly after finishing with the last blade, looking around to find that everybody else had already gone to sleep. Taking the opportunity, he created three shadow clones. "Alright, these are your orders, so listen up. Run patrol through the forest tonight and well into the morning. I have no doubt Gato is the kind of man who wouldn't leave well enough alone, so mercenaries will probably be on their way. Dispel if you see anything out of the ordinary." Three Naruto's chorused their acknowledgment at the same time and went to their work. Naruto himself propped his blade against his shoulder and fell into a light sleep.

Morning came with a rude awakening, though one that the blonde boy had more or less expected. That feeling, like a bucket of ice water to the brain, that signified one of his clones ending its existence pulled him out of his rest. "So.. It's as I thought. Still a ways off though.." Footsteps were heard on the stairs, and he looked up to see Shikamaru rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Kage, good, you're awake. Sit down and listen."

The lazy Nara did just that. Naruto rarely ever used the code names he had given his friends for fun. "What is it? You come up with a plan or something?" Naruto shrugged, using his sword to help him stand up from the floor where he had slept. "Something like that. Look, I was going to play this one close to the chest, and I know how you guys hate that.. But here's the deal. I'm trying to work out an alliance with Zabuza and his companion. They are deserters from Kumo, and Konoha could use ninja like them." He paused to let Shikamaru show that he was following. "However, something has come up here that needs somebody's attention. Asuma or Kakashi would want to field this one, but they need to be at the bridge. Gato's got a couple of mercenaries headed this way to use Tazuna's family as insurance. I know exactly where they are right now, and will head out to take care of them before they become a problem. I need you to take attention away from me. When you get to the bridge, you, Hime, and Tenshi need to stall. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Naruto's blade found its place at his waist as he moved towards the door, taking a backwards glance at his genius friend. "Don't die before I get there, yeah? I'm counting on you to watch out for everybody while I'm away. That includes Duckass and Banshee." Shikamaru sighed, waving to his friend. "Yeah, yeah. Dying would be too troublesome. Troublesome as it is, I'll do what needs to be done. Those names aren't too professional though neh?" Naruto flashed his signature grin. "But they fit well. I'll think of something better when they actually prove they can do something besides act like little kids." With that, he was off, leaving Shikamaru chuckling to himself. "Duckass..."

It wasn't long afterwards that Hinata and Ino made their way downstairs, retrieving their weapons that had been tended to by their friend over the course of the night. Speaking of him.. "Hey, Shika, where'd Naruto get off to? He'd usually be down here helping Tsunami cook or something." Ino questioned as she pulled her long blonde hair into its regular ponytail. "Him? That dumbass has gone out to do things his own way again, and left us with the bridge until he gets back." Hinata sent a halfhearted glare at Shikamaru who merely shrugged unapologetically. "He is what he is Hinata. He says he needs us to stall for him until he can get there. Says he's trying to get those two to join up with Konoha. What a troublesome guy.." Hinata finally decided to chime in, dropping her glare. "Shikamaru-kun, you know how he is. He'd rather make allies and avoid the killing if at all possible. He would even go so far as to take it easy on Sasuke-san in the academy."

"What's this I hear? Somebody talking about me? If you wanted to know anything about me, Hinata, you could have just asked." It would seem Sasuke had finally dragged himself out of sleep and had made his way downstairs, only hearing his name in the conversation, and nothing else. Ino quirked and eyebrow, giving the last Uchiha an incredulous look due to the seductive tone he had attempted to use. "Sorry, but everybody knows all there is to know about Sasuke Uchiha. You already talk about yourself enough, so why would we want to hear more?" Sasuke grumbled to himself, his advances on the pretty Hyuuga girl spurned once again. He just couldn't see why she wouldn't want him. Instead of pushing his luck any further, he changed topics. "So, where's the Dobe? He get cold feet already?"

Hinata shook her head in exasperation. "He's out taking care of his own business, and will meet us at the bridge as soon as he can." She didn't supply any more information, which made Sasuke grumble to himself again. It wasn't long at all before Kakashi and Asuma came down and rounded the group up to go. Asuma knew Naruto well enough to know that the boy had plans of his own, and let the matter be, the cyclopean jounin taking a cue from his comrade. Sakura merely followed the crowd, lost as usual in dreams of Sasuke and her.

Naruto was leaping from branch to branch, thanking the heavens that he had thought to use three clones instead of just one. As the third took itself out of existence, he finally found the small group of ten rogue ronin, hacking away at anything that got in their way. Making a few hand seals before tapping his throat, Naruto activated one of his personal effect jutsu. His voice deepened and echoed through the forest as he spoke, not giving his position away. "Fools! Impatient thugs. You dull your blades on the trees of the forest when you have ninja ahead of you. Did your master fail to tell you that he was sending you to die?" He got the desired effect. The ronin looked around, confused and frightened, but managed one managed to yell out his answer.

"Bah! Ninja are cowards who hide in the shadows. Why should I be afraid of somebody that has no honor? If you're a man, then fight like one!" This managed to rally his other allies who began shouting for the voice to show itself. Naruto let out a dark chuckle, dropping from a branch into the center of the group. "Very well then, you take your life into your own hands." He pulled his sword, sheath and all, from his belt and slid into a low stance, holding his right hand over the hilt. "Who wants to be first?"

The same man who had yelled out earlier stepped up, a confident smirk on his face. So, you do have some honor. But you're just a kid. I'll take you out nice and easy, then go have my way with that bridge builder's pretty little daughter." As the man began to laugh, Naruto saw red. The ronin marked himself as good as dead with that remark. "Iai Strike." The words were ground out low and soft, and in a single fluid motion, Naruto had drawn his blade, severed the man's neck, flicked the blood off, and sheathed. It took a few seconds before the man's head rolled off of his neck, the look of laughter still on his face, and his body slumped to the ground, drenching the earth with blood.

Naruto turned on the rest of the group, keeping his tone low. "Who was he to speak of honor? Anybody else with delusions of victory, step up. Those who wish to keep their lives, run." Though most of the group ran, three stayed behind, eager to either avenge their fallen comrade, or take glory for themselves, Naruto couldn't care either way. He brought one hand up to his face, sending up a short prayer for the man he had killed, and the men he would now fight. "I am sorry, but I have more important things to do right now than fight you one at a time." He jumped into the air, backwards, twisting around to land gracefully on his feet while summoning a line of five shadow clones in front of him. "Marble Stream!" Six voices cried out in unison as they sliced through the air, imbuing it with chakra and passing it to the next. In quick succession, they formed a blade of pure white air that cut through the three remaining ronin before the clones let themselves go. The blonde took a calming breath before heading off in the direction of the bridge.

Sasuke was getting angry. That masked ninja was good, but he had been winning. Ever so slightly, he had been able to see her moves and counter them. That is, until she created a dome of ice mirrors. He didn't even know a jutsu like that was possible until Kakashi explained that it was something like a bloodline limit like the Sharingan. Meanwhile, Shikamaru was commanding Hinata and Ino in a strategy that was keeping Zabuza too busy to either help Haku or attack Tazuna.

The dark eyed boy was hit with another volley of senbon, just able to catch Haku's movement as she jumped from mirror to mirror. In her next move, he was able to catch the hem of her cloths with a fireball jutsu. Unnoticed to everybody, his eyes had turned red, a single tomoe in one eye and two in the other. That still wasn't enough though. He could see the movements clearly, but didn't yet have the reaction time to act quickly enough.

This was the scene that Naruto found when he arrived at the bridge. Using surprise to his advantage, he blurred through a set of hand seals before announcing his jutsu. "Futon: Daitoppa no jutsu!" He threw the raging wind towards Zabuza, appearing at the tail end of the jutsu, between the large man and his friends. "Sorry to make you wait Zabuza-san. I hope you were entertained." He turned his gaze back ever so slightly to catch his allies out of the corner of his eye. "Good work guys. I'll take over from here. Go help Duckass out before Haku decides to use lethal force."

Three nods, and they were off, Shikamaru already formulating several different scenarios in his mind. Naruto turned to the larger man with a smirk on his face. "So Zabuza-san, have you thought about my offer? I have ties with the Hokage himself, so arranging your position shouldn't be too hard." Zabuza grinned beneath the bandages covering his face. "Well connected huh? That's good. However, I'm not going to follow somebody that can't give me a run for my money in a fight. Consider this a test. You do well, and Haku and I will join you."

Naruto nodded, pulling his crimson scarf up like a mask. "Fair enough. This time, I won't hold back. I think it's time to cut loose a bit and show what I can do." Setting himself in a slightly modified Kazenagare stance, he began to channel a small amount of wind chakra into his blade. Zabuza quirked a nearly nonexistent brow. "That stance didn't work last time, you know. What makes you think it will do any better this time?" He was ignored though as Naruto charged forward. 'Yuuko, I'm going to work at full capacity. How long before it's too much for my body?' His advance was blocked by Zabuza's zanbato, but he merely used it as a foothold, flipping over the man while delivering a slice that cut the man from hip to shoulder. 'At this rate, I would say you have about a minute.'

He landed on his feet, turning just in time to roll out of the way of a simple water jutsu used by the man. 'That's all I'll need. Ninja battles should be finished as soon as possible.' Turning the roll into a handspring, Naruto flung himself into the air, charging his blade with more wind chakra. "It's no Marble stream, but it'll have to do! Hunting Falcon!" He swung the blade in a wide arc, sending a vacuum blade down at Zabuza. The man managed to block the attack with his own sword, but the act left a deep scar in the side of the blade.

"Wind chakra manipulation at your age. I'm impressed brat, but that won't be enough!" As soon as Naruto landed, Zabuza was on top of him, trying to keep the boy locked in one place. Naruto had other plans though, and Zabuza hadn't figured out the intricacies of the Kazenagare style yet. Naruto used a blade lock to his advantage, faking weakening strength, he crumpled to the ground, only to roll away again before Zabuza could land a heavy blow while he was down. He reached into a modified kunai pouch, producing five mini chakram, and threw them all at once. Zabuza, unaware of the nature of these weapons scoffed as they missed him by a wide margin, only to come back and slice across the already agitated sword wound across his back. This caused him to arch his back in pain for a slight moment. One that Naruto took advantage of. He sheathed his blade and ran forward. With the grace of an acrobat, he did a quick handspring that led into a mule kick to Zabuza's chest, knocking the man off balance. He then pulled his blade once more, landing on top of the man's chest with the edge of Tsukihitsume pressed to his neck.

Panting from the exertion, though grinning, he looked back to see Haku being held down by Hinata, arms locked behind her back by the Hyuuga girl's tonfa. Ino had the blade of her spear resting close to the girls neck to keep her from moving. "Well now Zabuza-san. It looks like you're pretty well beaten, though I'll admit that this would have been much harder if they hadn't wore you down first.

For his part, Zabusa let out a gleeful laugh. "Ah, damn it's been a long time since anybody beat me like this. You know what kid? I like you. Tell your Hokage that we'll join up with Konoha. I'll make it clear though. My allegiance is to you not the village." Naruto nodded and stood up, offering his hand to the older man who took it and hauled himself up. In the mists at the beginning of the bridge, a clapping noise was heard, followed by a pompous voice.

"Very touching Zabuza. You've backed out on your contract though, and I just can't have that." The fat, squat man known as Gato grinned like he held all the cards. "Get 'em boys!" From behind him came his small army of thugs, confident that they could best the group of ninja after they had been weakened by fighting amongst each other. However, they hadn't counted on the two fresh jounin who were itching for a little action of their own. While Naruto went to help Haku up, Asuma and Kakashi tore through the thugs with ease until they captured Gato, who had been trying to sneak away once he realized things weren't going his way. Just after that had happened, Inari and Tsunami showed up at the head of an impromptu militia, wielding whatever they could find on short notice.

Asuma took a long drag of the cigarette that was hanging from his lips, exhaling slowly. "Well now, looks like the cavalry's arrived. This slimeball's all yours kid. You and the villagers decide what to do with him." Gato was kicked towards the militia and was once again surrounded by weapons. "Looks like that wraps this mission up nicely. Hey, Naruto." The blonde boy looked over from his conversation with the ice user. "Nice leadership skills on this one. I'm impressed. Your first A rank, and we come off barely injured with new allies to boot. If I could give out field promotions, you'd have it." This comment made his friends beam proudly, but not a certain Uchiha with a chip on his shoulder.

"Oh, for the love of.. Would somebody tell me why that idiot's getting all the credit for everything? We didn't even want him here from the start! Team seven could have handled this mission easily by ourselves. And what's with sparing the enemy like that? How do you know he won't just go turncoat once he's got everybodys trust and start leaking information? I say we take him out here and now to save ourselves the trouble later." Sakura stood beside him as usual, nodding her agreement, not that it was much of a surprise.

Kakashi sighed. Somehow, he knew this was going to happen. "I, as your jounin sensei, along with Shikamaru, decided that we would need more help after the first ambush. Nobody specifically requested this team. Hokage-sama sent them because he knew they would get the job done right. Asuma was given the lead on this mission, and he let Naruto work his way. I'd suggest you calm down before you make a bigger scene out of yourself."

Though Sasuke wanted to continue, he knew Kakashi was right, and that this wasn't the time. "Let's see how the idiot likes it when I take it all away from him for my use," He grumbled under his breath.

The rest of their time in Wave was uneventful. Soon enough, Tazuna finished his bridge, allowing the ninja who had saved them all to be the first to cross it. As they waved goodbye to the villagers of Wave, Naruto felt a hesitant tug at the hem of his shirt, and looked down to see Inari. "Yo, kid. Looks like you'll be living nice and free now, huh?" Inari nodded, looked back towards his mother, and then back at Naruto. "Umm.. I don't really know how to ask this.. But, do you think I could join Konoha and be trained as a ninja like all of you? I want to learn how to protect my family properly."

The blonde boy took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly before kneeling to be at eye level with Inari. "I would let you kid, I really would. You're a little old to start at the academy though, but not old enough yet to be apprenticed. Tell ya what. Look me up in three years time, and I'll teach you myself. By that time, I should at least be chunin. If you can wait until then, I promise I'll make you one of the strongest ninja to ever walk this earth. Let me tell you something that helped me though. Somebody once told me not to try to grow up too quickly. Quick growth hardens the heart, and I won't teach anybody who can only care for themselves. Until then, work at the forge here to get yourself nice and strong." Ruffling the boy's hair, he stood back up.

"Alright guys, it's time we got back home, don't ya think?" There were several nods of agreement to the blonde's comment, and with that, the group walked away at a relaxed pace. Once they were out of earshot, somebody from the crowd piped up. "Hey, Tazuna. Thought about what you'd name this bridge yet? Something that's gonna save our village has got to have a name." The wizened bridge builder scratched his chin, and with a moment of thought came up with the perfect answer. "The Great Naruto bridge. Since that kid saved all our asses, we should at least thank him in some way." This decision was met with hearty approval before the townspeople filed off to their own homes.

Their trip home was relaxed, with those that were comfortable around each other catching up on their lives, leaving Sakura in a frustrated attempt to join in the conversation with Ino, and Sasuke brooding and planning his request to the council. They hadn't denied him yet.

Finding no place in the conversation for her, Sakura let her shoulders drop. 'Just when did Ino and I get this far apart? She'll barely even talk to me any more.' To her surprise, a rough echo of her voice sounded through her head, mocking the most recent thought. **"Well duh! It was the minute you buried your head in that stupid Uchiha's ass, cha!" **As if sensing her shock, the voice spoke again. **"That's right idiot, I'm back. You can't keep me away for too long, I'm your true thoughts. You just don't want to accept me. Get used to having me around." **Nobody else could figure out why, though it could have been another denial by Sasuke, but Sakura had an almost comical look of depression written on her face.

Somewhere in the middle of their trek, Zabuza took Naruto aside. "Kid, I need to ask you something. How well liked are you in your village? I'm not gonna change my terms or anything, but it may help me be ready for the future." The answer wasn't long in coming, Naruto had made his peace with the matter a long time ago. "Not at all I'm afraid. Let's just say I have a friend who isn't very well liked that they often mistake me for." He pat his stomach where the seal was a couple times as a hint. Zabuza, not having all the facts was mildly confused, but moved on. "Then you are aware, of course, that a typical village would do one of two things to you. Exile or death. Since you have ties with the Hokage, I doubt death is the option, which leaves us with only one thing."

Naruto gave a rueful grin. "Yes, I am aware. The time will come, and I will cross that bridge when it does. Actually, staying with Konoha for the rest of my life wouldn't be much help to my goals after all. There's only so much I can do in the Hokage seat. Especially with the council system that's in place. Speaking of, expect some entertainment from them soon after we get you settled." Zabuza growled to himself. "Damn, I hate politics."

When they finally arrived at the Hokage tower a day later, Naruto snapped to attention. He gave his full report from his view of things, including his meeting with Haku out in the forest. He did, however, leave out anything pertaining to Yuuko or the Sword. The old ninja thought about matters for a little while before reaching into his desk and tossing two new hite-ate complete with the spiral leaf to Haku and Zabuza. "I understand your wishes Zabuza-san. You and Haku-san will be acting Konoha ninja, directly allied to Naruto. As such, you should not feel honor bound to serve should anything befall him." Zabuza and Naruto shared an inward smirk. 'perfect.' "Now that I've heard your report, you may take your R&R until the next mission. Your pay will be sent as soon as the paperwork is filed." The old man sighed at the thought of more paperwork.

Naruto, grinning, caught the old man's attention again before he left. "You know Jii-san, there's a really easy way to get paperwork done and have your free time. I'm surprised you hadn't thought of it earlier." Seeing that he had the Hokage staring right at him with the most hopeful look in his eyes that Naruto had ever seen, he merely made a cross shaped hand seal, turned around, and left the room. The rest of that day, people could hear maniacal laughter coming from the hokage tower as he finally conquored the beast he had been fighting a losing battle with for years.

* * *

True enough, only a few days later saw Zabuza, Haku, and I standing in front of the council. As usual, whenever I was called in for whatever civilian grievance, the ninja portion of the council looked bored. Hiashi decided to call the whole affair to order, and I had a good idea of what was coming at the time...

* * *

"Naruto Uzumaki. The council has called you here today for two reasons." He shook his head as he read the first. Did the civilian members even use their brains. "Please note that it was the civilian council that called you in on behalf of Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto gave a snort of laughter, yeah he knew exactly what was coming. "Sasuke demands that two objects in your possession be given to him immediately. These being the sword you carry at your hip, and the one bound to your arm. The second matter is that of Konoha's new allies, Zabuza Momochi, and Haku, no last name. He requests that we place them as his personal teachers, barring all missions for them, and that they switch their allegiances to him."

Naruto had barely been listening to the second demand, too busy scanning the area around until he found who he was looking for. There sat Sasuke, a smug grin on his face. Naruto matched it with a confident grin of his own and turned back to the assembly. "With all due respect members of the council, I refuse all terms. Let's state it off like this. One, when I say Tsukihitsume is picky about who holds her, I mean it. The blade itself is semi-sentient and will only be drawn from its sheath by me of those I have given permission to. Needless to say, Uchiha is neither of those two. As for this.." He held up his right hand, flexing it into a fist. "I will never give this up until it is the proper time. Not that I could if I wanted to. When Hiashi-sama says that it's bound to my arm, he means that in the most literal sense imaginable. Last, Zabuza and Haku here joined Konoha of their own volition, expressing that they wouldn't follow the village itself, but me who won their trust through combat."

Over the course of his denial, one of the council member, who harbored a special hatred for him stood up, slamming his fists against the table before him. "You pretentious little snot! Fine, keep your rusted piece of scrap and your traitor friends. However, you have held the Holy Sword in your filthy hands for far too long! It's high time that power went where it belonged, in the hands of somebody of noble blood and standing."

Naruto scoffed at that, further raising the ire of the councilman. "Is that the kinda bullshit you've been feeding him all of his life? No wonder he thinks he can do and get anything he wants by simply demanding it. Just because this village clings to the Sharingan, you'll treat a single, power thirsty boy like a prince. Besides, you can't make me do anything until a vote has been passed, so don't start acting like I've denied an order. Hiashi-sama, you have my thoughts on the matter now, there's nothing left other than put it to the vote."

Though the Hyuuga head disapproved of the language used by the blonde boy, he did like his style. "Very well, let us do just that. For the first request, those for?" Nearly all of the civilian side spoke up, aside from those who Naruto was on good standing with, namely Techui and Shinrei. Hiashi spoke up again, after taking count. "And those against?" The entire Shinobi side spoke up for him, as did those on the civilian side who hadn't voted for. Hiashi, himself, raised his hand on Naruto's behalf. "Those against have it, bot swords stay in Naruto's possession. As for the second request, on further review nothing can be done. The chances of them following our orders are almost nonexistent, though the chances of them defecting are great. We apologize for the inconvenience this council has caused you Naruto-san. You may go." Naruto nodded, turning about to leave.

Once the boy had left, Hiashi rounded on the civilians, dropping his usual mask of indifference in exchange for a bone chilling glare. "I thought we of the Shinobi council and the Hokage himself made this perfectly clear before. That boy is not to be bothered by your petty concerns. What do you think the Fourth, our villages greatest hero and the man who expressly wished for Naruto to be seen as a hero, would say if he heard of this? Trying to take an artifact like the Holy Sword from its chosen wielder, just to give it to a power hungry child who you think deserves it more? Do try not to waste our time like this again, we have families of our own, and jobs to do." With that, the council adjourned and filed out, having only called the meeting for Sasuke's ambition.

Naruto walked with his two new allies, enjoying Zabuza's stories of life before they had met up. This reminded him of something though. "Hey, how is that blade of yours? I didn't really get a good look at it after our fight." The older man stopped, pulling a wry face. "Pretty damn near ruined actually. That move you pulled, Hunting Falcon? Left a deep scar down the entire side of the blade. I hit anything with it, and I run the risk of shattering it." Naruto sucked in air through his teeth, making a pained hiss. "Sorry about that one, but you did want me to give it my all right? I don't like to draw my fights out if I can help it. Tell ya what, let me have a good look at it, and I'll see what I can do."

He was given an odd look before the man bit the pad of his thumb, wiped the blood across a seal on the back of his hand that was cleverly disguised as a simple tattoo, and summoned his Zanbato. "Well, here you go. I won't go expecting to get it back as good as new, but if you can find a smith who can do a good patch job, I'd appreciate it." This caused the boy to chuckle, surprising Zabuza as he easily shouldered the weight of the blade. "You're lookin' at him actually. You won't even recognize it when I get done." The older man smirked as Naruto went off his own way, vanishing into the back streets.

* * *

Life was uneventful for the next few months. Ever since my team had successfully cleared an A ranked mission while avoiding casualties, we were getting regular C ranks, and the occasional B. Haku and Zabuza acclimated to village life far better than expected. While Haku donned yet another mask to join the ANBU hunter division, oddly enough, Zabuza decided to help at the academy while he was off missions. All he would ever say about it for the longest time was that he wanted to make sure the children never had to go through something like he did. Although frightened at first, the academy children began to grow fond of him, even if he had an extremely strict teaching style. Often enough, I would find either of them, along with the others, relaxing at my house in the woods. Somehow, Kiba and Choji had gotten Shino to open up to them, and then to us in turn. As Kiba said, once you got past the bugs living in his body, and the semi-antisocial personality, he was actually a good guy.

All breaks come to an end though. It was around this time that Asuma stopped training early, having us gather at his favorite barbecue restaurant like he always did whenever a team discussion was in order..

* * *

"Well guys, you've been gennin for a while now. I've got to say I'm pretty damn lucky to have gotten such a good group. Under normal circumstances, I would wait until the next time this rolls around, but I've put your names up for the chunin exams this next week. Still, it's ultimately your choice if you decide to take it or not. If you will, sign these forms and show up at the academy at noon in three days. Don't be late. Until the exams are over, further training and missions are canceled, so get some rest, think of new strategies, and show me your best. I'll be watching." Asuma grinned to himself as he saw his students eyes light up at the thought of the test. Of course, he had only said that they could back out as a formality, he knew them well enough to know that it was hard for them to back down from a challenge like this.

That next day, Naruto was enjoying his time off while playing around with the Hokage's grandson, Konohamaru, who had taken a shine to him, when an odd feeling struck. Before he could pass it off as nothing, his young ward ran right into a person dressed completely in black with purple war paint on his face. The only thing Naruto could use to identify him was the hite-ate attached to the boy's hood, emblazoned with Suna's symbol. This person lifted the poor boy into the air by the back of his shirt, growling under his breath. "Watch it brat, I'm walking here. Maybe I should teach you some manners, huh?" He pulled his hand back, only to have it caught by Naruto before he could hit the boy in his grasp.

"Well now, you don't make all that great of an impression for your country, ninja of Sunagakure. Why don't you let the kid go, he was just having fun like all young ones do." Another voice came, this time from the black-garbed boy's blonde companion who, for whatever reason, was carrying what looked like a giant fan. "That's enough Kankuro! We just got here, and we don't need you starting trouble right from the start. Do you want to piss Gaara off?" The mention of a third name had Naruto looking around until he found a red haired boy, roughly his age, staring down at the scene with cold eyes from the branches of a tree.

Letting Kankuro's hand free, Naruto felt that strange sensation again as he locked eyes with the redhead. 'Yuuko.. What is this? He feels familiar somehow.' His answer came after a moment of hesitation. "Naruto, be careful around this one. This aura has to be Shukaku, the one tail. That crazed demon has probably taken that poor boy to the limits of sanity, and I've no doubt his life was much like yours before the incident at your old apartment." While listening to Yuuko, Naruto had been taking everything about Gaara in. The large gourd strapped to his back, and the dark rings around his eyes, almost as if he hadn't slept in years, caught his attention in particular.

"I take it you're Gaara then, right?" As Naruto spoke, Kankuro and his female companion gave him a look that he wasn't quite sure to interpret as surprise at finding Gaara, or surprise at openly addressing him. Regardless, he continued. "Since you seem to be the leader here, I'd ask that you keep your team reined in while in Konoha. It wouldn't do to be thrown into prison instead of taking your exams."

Gaara's answer came with an eerie smirk. "So, you aren't afraid of me? You address me like another human. You are either too stupid to know fear, or you are like me. Interesting... What is your name?" By the time he had finished speaking, he was standing right in front of Naruto, that strange expression still on his features while the other two ninja looked on, nervous.

"Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. Though, if you ask most of the village, they'll tell you something along the lines of Demon Spawn. You don't frighten me Gaara-san. I know all too well what life must have been like. What would you do if I said I had a way to 'tame the beast' as it were?" Naruto flexed his bandaged hand while looking into Gaara's cold eyes.

Gaara merely quirked a brow, his smirk fading. "I would have to call you a liar. Nothing can tame such a beast. The only thing I can do is avoid sleep so that it can't take over. Now then, if you'll excuse us, we'll be on our way. Kankuro, Temari, let's go." Naruto watched as they faded out of sight, sighing once they were far enough away. Without looking, he had known that another person had been watching their conversation. "Sasuke, why do you insist on following me around like this?"

Ignoring the question, Sasuke dropped from the tree he had been hiding in with his sharingan active. "Because, dobe, if I can't take what should be mine, I'll copy what is yours and make it better now that I have these eyes. You'll give me power one way or another." Naruto gave a mild chuckle, turning to help Konohamaru off of the ground where Kankuro had dropped him. "You can try Sasuke, but can your body handle what I do? You may know how it works, but that means nothing if you can't even bend the right way. I take it Kakashi put you up for the chunin exams, right? If you can make it all the way to me, I'll give you that fight you've been craving for since the academy. I won't hold back this time though, so train well." Konohamaru tugging at his sleeve pulled his attention away from Sasuke. "Nii-san, I'm bored talking watching you talk to that duckass. I wanna go play some more!"

Naruto flicked the boy in the center of his forehead. "I know you hear me and my friends say things like that a lot, Ko, but you shouldn't curse. It's a bad habit. Besides, isn't it almost time to meet up with Jii-san for lunch?" Eyes wide, Konohamaru was off like a shot, though Naruto had no trouble keeping up. Sasuke watched them leave with a sneer on his face. "Finally, once he shows me what he can really do, I'll steal it all and beat him to the ground with it. Nobody mocks an Uchiha, Dobe, especially not a nameless punk like you."

* * *

Aaand end of chapter. Sorry if this is a bit short compared to the last one, but I was caught under a bit of a writers block. Still chipping away at the one sitting right on top of ToLaD though.. Ah, whatever, it's not dead, and I am working on it, it just goes so slow. Felt like ending the chapter here, because otherwise I'd be inclined to go through the entire first part of the exam, and that's not good chapter breakdown. Also, I know this chapter probably jumped around quite a bit, yeah? That's because not much really happened between Wave and the exams. Anyway, not much to say down here this time around, so I'll stick with my shtick.

I love constructive criticism! Got a suggestion? Got a correction? Give 'em to me in a nice long review. Go on, hit that button! You know you wanna! Till next time folks.


	7. Chapter 7: Into the Dark Forest

Haha, to clear something up for one (or maybe many?) of my readers, when I mention the World of Mana, I am talking about the Seiken Densetsu series as a whole. World of Mana is just the name it has all been franchised under. Kinda like Sonic or Mario are franchised under their own companies.

Do not own Naruto or World of Mana. I just write about stuff.

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Into the Black Forest

I think it goes without saying that my team and I, showed up a little early. We each had a sneaking suspicion that just getting to where the tests would be held would be a test in itself. It turned out, we were right. Our suspicions were confirmed as we arrived at the second floor..

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There was a crowd of chunin hopefuls grouped before two boys who looked to be around 20. This was an easy trap, meant to weed out those who had no hope at all. The test meant to be held on the third floor, and a simple genjutsu placed over the wall plaque made it seem as if that was where they were. It was a combination of nerves and inexperience that caused so many to be caught so easily.

Naruto nodded to the boys he immediately recognized as Izumo and Kotetsu, the two ninja who regularly served as gate guards, who were using a simple henge to appear as younger versions of themselves before gesturing for his group to continue up. Halfway up the stairs, they heard excited mumbling followed by a voice that would only make Naruto grin.

"YOSH! Stop this fighting now! Your actions are most unyouthful, Uchiha-san. There is no need to be violent just to prove yourself strong." Shaking their heads, they ignored the sounds of a mild fight from below. "That's Lee for ya, guy just can't help himself sometimes." Ino commented as they opened the door to the exam room. "You mean he's been able to at all?" Quipped Hinata before they stepped into the room, each setting their faces into blank masks, Naruto even going so far as to cover his face with his scarf as he did whenever he wanted to seem intimidating. Quietly, they made their way to seats that were open and somewhat close by each other.

The clock ticked time by more and more people filed in. Team seven and team Gai came in at nearly the same time, followed close behind by team nine. Naruto watched close as a young man with white hair pulled back in a ponytail, glasses, and a scar across the bridge of his nose much like Iruka made his way towards the three teams who were grouped together and, for the most part, chatting amiably.

"You know, you might want to quiet down before you piss somebody off. Those ninja from Oto seem particularly on edge right now." Kiba sent him a mild glare. "And just who are you? Coming up and interrupting personal conversations like that." The white haired teen raised his hands in defense. "Hey now, no need to be angry. I just thought I could give you guys some advice. Name's Kabuto. I have taken this test seven times before, and I've stored up a wealth of information on just about everybody here."

Sasuke perked up at that, chiming in almost immediately. "Two people. Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara from Suna." Kabuto smiled, pulling a deck of cards from somewhere. They were all completely blank. "Well, you have the names, so that makes it easy." Shuffling through them, he somehow found the two he was looking for, placed them on the ground, and fed a minimal amount of chakra into them. In an instant the cards went from blank to filled. "Let's see. Naruto first then. Team eight, Jounin-sensei is Asuma Sarutobi. 36 D ranks, 10 C ranks, 5 B's and, surprisingly, 2 A's. Looks like his first mission was an A rank he completed before he was even assigned to his team, and that was the capture of a traitor. He's pretty well rounded too. Looks like he's strong with taijutsu, kenjutsu, stealth, and information retrieval. Little to nothing is known about his skills with ninjutsu and genjutsu. Specialties seem to include the single handed creation of each of his taijutsu styles and further adaptation of those into kenjutsu forms. Little else is known about him, he seems to keep pretty closed up to all but his closest friends, and they won't say a word either." Kiba scoffed, looking up to see the blonde in question. "Damn right we won't."

Naruto was grimacing under his mask. Sure, most of that was common enough knowledge in some circles of the ninja community, but he couldn't figure out how this particular person had come about even that. Not to mention that he had people prodding his friends for answers. He made a mental note to be more careful about his training in the future.

"Then, there's Gaara Subaku of Sunagakure. This kid's a real interesting case actually. I know next to nothing about him. No mission specs, no abilities. The guy's a total wild card. All I can say is that it's been reported that he's never gotten so much as a scratch while on a mission. Sorry I couldn't get into further detail."

At this time, one of the Oto shinobi, wrapped heavily with bandages and hefting a heavy looking metal gauntlet, attacked. Kabuto was barely able to dodge the blow from the gauntlet, only to have his classes crack and his sense of balance ripped from him. Naruto, still observing, had the privilege of seeing exactly what happened. That gauntlet somehow amplified even the tiniest of sounds. The user then controlled the amplified sound with chakra do disorient their victim by disrupting inner ear function. "So, I guess Oto isn't just a name. Interesting. I'll have to be aware of them."

Before the conflict could escalate, however, a large, scarred man wearing a black bandanna over his head broke it up. "Alright runts, take your seats or get thrown out. It's test time, and I'm your proctor, Ibiki Morino." Quick as a shot, all were in a seat, watching the front of the room where Ibiki stood. "Right then, you've passed in your slips and are all here as teams. If you weren't, you'd be kicked out. As I'm sure most of you noticed, getting here was a simple test to see how well you can deal with even moderate pressure, and whether you would work as a team or not. That was easy, but now it's time to tighten the screws. When I'm finished with you runts, I'll have this group cut in half."

Ibiki once again quieted murmuring from the group before him with a hard look while a clipboard was rolled out behind him, and several experienced chunin took seats on either side of the room. "Now, let's get to it. You have your test in front of you. Nine questions are printed on the test, and you will answer them to the best of your knowledge. In an hour, the tenth question will be given out. See these chunin at the side of the room? They'll be watching you for cheating. If they catch you three times, you and your team will be out. Further information on the tenth question will be given at the end of the hour. Now get started!"

As one, the ninja flipped the sheets of paper in front of them over and started in on the test. Naruto had a leer on his face under the mask as he pieced everything together. 'Oh, come on. He made this too easy. Three strikes? He's begging us to cheat. This is all a test on gathering information. That tenth question bothers me though. Oh well, one thing at a time.' A subtle glance around told him that both of his companions had figured it out as well. 'Good girls, just what I expected from you. Now, just how should I go about this?'

Naruto didn't have to figure it out though, as soon Hinata began using their subtle sign language to relay the answers she had gathered from what seemed to be a planted source off to her left. Even if the chunin had eyes like hawks, the small twitches were unreadable to anybody who didn't know what to look for. Over the course of the hour, almost like Ibiki had predicted, little more than half of the original group remained. The scarred man slammed his hands on his podium to signal the end of the hour. "Alright! That's your hour. Now time for the tenth question. First though, the conditions. If you choose to take this final question, one of two things can happen. One, you make it, and your team passes. Two, one or all of your team fails it and are stuck as genin for the rest of your lives. Now, what'll it be?"

Ah, now it was time to let them cook. Ibiki watched, proud that he still had his touch. The man hadn't gotten to be the head of the ANBU interrogation and torture department without knowing just how to make somebody sweat. It was all a matter of time before one of them cracked. 'Any time now.. Five, four, three, two, one, aand' A nondescript genin stood, his chair scraping the ground. "I.. I just can't do it. I'm sorry, but I'm out." He and his team were dragged out of the room, and the door was slammed after them. 'Bingo! God I love my job.'

Naruto watched as several more teams bowed out, each time Ibiki's smirk got a little wider. 'This guy's just waiting for somebody to say something, isn't he? Well, might as well give him what he wants" He stood up, his face impassive behind his mask. "That's enough now, don't you think? Why don't you let us in on the real part of this test? Or would you like me to explain it for you?"

Ibiki was thrown for a loop. He was going to let them stew for a little while longer before the big reveal, but if this kid wanted to have a go at it, he'd humor him. "Yeah, sure kid. Let's hear it. What is all this about, hmm?"

"It's pretty easy actually. The first part was all about information gathering skills. If I were to hazard a guess, you stuck a team of three in with the rest of us that were just planted to put the right answers in the room. That test was far too technical in so many different areas that it would be difficult for anybody to pass. It was your three strikes policy that gave that one away. As for your tenth question, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it has something to do with whether to accept a mission you have no intel on or not. If you choose no, you aren't qualified to be a ninja, since that is what we deal with in a lot of high profile missions. So, am I close Ibiki-sensei?

The man in question laughed, clapping slowly. "Close? More like dead on. He's right, whether or not you took the final question was the final question. Though I would have worded it a little differently, that is just about the example I would have given. Looks like all of you that are left pass then. Congratulations on finishing the first part of your exam.." Before he could continue, the window he had been standing near shattered as a tightly bound bundle sailed through. This unraveled itself, throwing four kunai out to turn into a banner that read Anko Miterashi, beautiful, sexy, and single. Standing in front of the banner was a buxom purple haired woman. She wore little but a trench coat, a very short skirt, and a mesh shirt. Her hair itself was pulled up in a messy bun behind her head, and she had a wooden stick with a single piece of dango skewered on it clenched between her teeth. "Listen up brats! The name's Anko, and I'll be the proctor for the second round of testing! Hope you're all ready for a little piece of hell."

Ibiki coughed, catching the woman's attention. "You're early Anko, I hadn't even gotten to that yet. Oh well." He turned to address those still sitting in the classroom. "Testing resumes tomorrow at training ground 44 at 1000 hours sharp. Until then, you are free to do as you will."

After everybody had filed out and Ibiki had gathered up all the tests, he turned to Anko who was leaning against he podium, entertaining herself by twirling a kunai around her index finger. "There's a boy I want you to look out for in the next round Anko." She stopped her twirling, looking at Ibiki with a quizzical expression. "You know I don't show favoritism Ibiki." The scarred man shook his head. "No, not like that. I want you to watch him. The blonde boy wearing that scarf. I have a feeling he'll be interesting. Kid saw right through my scare tactic, even though it was pretty transparent. Still, impressive for a genin. I'd like to see what he can really do." Anko acquired what could have been a sadistic grin. "Oh? For you to say that, he must be promising. Maybe I can have a little fun with him on my own if he's actually any good." Ibiki sighed, there was no stopping that woman when she got ideas like that in her head. "Just don't go overboard. We don't need a repeat of the last exam when you knocked a team out because you 'played' with him until he ran, terrified, from the testing grounds."

The thought of that made Anko giggle to herself, something that was highly uncharacteristic for her. "Couldn't help myself. The little boy's expression of terror was just too perfect." Noticing Ibiki's glare she waved her hand. "Hai.. I'll try to behave."

Outside, Naruto was caught in a sneeze fit while sitting with his friends at Ichiraku's. "Damn, Naruto, what was that all about? You catchin' something, or is that Uchiha thinking about you again?" The blonde shook his head to clear it, looking over at Kiba who was sitting between Choji and Shino. "I don't think so, usually that only brings about cold shivers. I just hope it won't turn out too bad for me." He lifted his bowl to drink the last of the broth, placing it on top of the stack beside him. "Well, I've got a couple things I want to finish up at the forge. Ino, your mom wanted to have Hinata and I over for dinner right? Tell her I may be a bit late, but I'll be there."

Naruto stood and walked off, making his way to one of his more favorite places in town, Shinrei's forge. "Hey, boss, those materials I order come in yet? I've got a job I need to finish up." The large man set his hammer down, letting his current work heat back up in the furnace. "Yeah, came in just this morning. You must have been making serious money to order something like that Kid. I've only used it a couple times myself, and those were serious jobs." Naruto nodded, going into the back where the regular shipments were left to retrieve a hard lump of blue metal. "Well, reforging and strengthening takes metals stronger than the original blade, and this is about the hardest stuff you can find around here. For the guy I've got to make this for, he'll need it."

Setting the metal into the furnace to soften, he retrieved Zabuza's blade from the wall of the shop, setting that in as well. With a sigh, he looked over at a pair of blood red claws he had finished just the other night. They were essentially modified gauntlets, cut off at the wrist to cover only the hand. From the back of each first knuckle extended five inch long blades, each somehow crimson at the tip. The rest of the metal was a deep, blood red. These had been made to Kiba's suggestion. Naruto had a particularly hard time making sure the blades wouldn't be too brittle where they were joined to the base. Otherwise they would snap off under the pressure that his friend's attacks usually put on his weapons. Pulled out of his thoughts by seeing both the blade and the raw metal glowing bright in the fire, he cracked his knuckles, created three clones to assist, and picked up a heavy maul of a hammer. "Well, time to get to work. This ought to be fun."

The next morning found Naruto stretched out on the couch in Ino's living room. Reina had flat out refused that he leave after he had stayed a little later than he intended while sharing a few drinks with Inoichi. It all worked out though. He got to sleep in a little later than he normally did, and he was close by both Ino and Hinata, who had decided to stay over as well. Ever cheerful, Ino's mother waltzed into the room to find him awake. "Oh, good! I was just about to wake the girls and Inoichi up. It's time for breakfast. You three have your exams, and Inoichi's on guard duty today. You need your strength!" Never one to refuse a meal, especially one made by this woman, Naruto got right to his feet. "I'll get the girls up, actually. I've got a few things I want to go over with them before we head out." He turned to head up the stairs, leaving Reina in mid sentence. "Um, Naruto, you might not want to.. They aren't very well... dressed." He was already gone though, so she just shrugged. "Oh well, maybe this will push those girls to do something with their little infatuation they've had since their school days" Reina giggled to herself. Even if Ino wouldn't admit it, she knew exactly what her daughter wanted and couldn't be happier.

Naruto cracked the door to Ino's room open, stepping inside without really realizing what was in store for him. In fact, it really wasn't until he heard a small sound from the one bed in the room that he even took notice. "Mmm, Naruto-kun... Please don't stop.." He blinked, his brain freezing solid. Surely he did not just hear Hinata say that in her sleep. This line of thought brought him to his current situation. He was standing in the middle of Ino's room, and there on top of her bed lay both Hinata and Ino herself. They were curled up right next to each other wearing little other than extremely thin, nearly completely sheer sleepwear that left very little to the imagination. Now Naruto wasn't a pervert by any stretch of the imagination, but a sight like this would have been far too much for any mere mortal to resist. Thus, with a small tint in his cheeks, he shook the sleeping girls awake, being very careful where he let his eyes wander. Apparently, he hadn't been forceful enough though, because they only woke up halfway, looked up at him, and in unison, pulled him down between them onto the bed and cuddled into him with content smiles on their faces. He was trapped now, and in a terrible position at that. He had seen first hand the wrath that perverts face in situations far less imposing than this.

This was the scene Reina walked in on. Though she hadn't been expecting anything like this, it was just too perfect to pass up. The comical look Naruto was sending her clearly asked for help, but she merely made a soft tutting noise. 'You'll thank me for this someday Naruto, even if you hate me for it now' She looked at Ino's alarm clock, smiling almost sadistically as she watched it tick until it finally went off. The loud noise made all three people on the bed jump, though Naruto did it for a reason other than being rudely awakened.

Ino growled, rolling over to slap the snooze button before snuggling back into Naruto. 'Mmm... Naruto's so warm and comfortable and smells so good. I could get used to sleeping with him like this..' Her eyes shot open as her rational thought caught up with her. Naruto was in her bed, and she was using him as a pillow. This sudden realization caused two quick reactions. Her face flushed a deep red, and she turned around, quickly pulling up whatever sheets she could to hide her body. Hinata must have gone through a similar line of thought at just about the same time, because her reaction was almost exactly the same, save for a rather cute, high pitched, "Eep!"

Ino, still the boldest of the two girls, was the one to speak first. "Na.. Naruto! What are you doing in my bed!? You didn't see anything embarrassing, right?!" Naruto, who had prepared himself for a well deserved thrashing, was surprised that this was their strongest reaction. "I just came in here to wake you both up, I swear! You two kinda woke up, but then pulled me down with you and went back to sleep. It's not like I was trying to see you two or anything!"

Hinata quickly saw a chance to have a little fun with Naruto, shooting a meaningful look at Ino. "So, you didn't want to see our bodies? Does that mean you think we're ugly?" Naruto cringed at the question. This was one of the dreaded questions with no right answer. He would never lie and say yes, that would hurt their feelings along with him ending up gutted like a fish. Though, if he said no, they would take that as him coming in to have a peek at them. Thinking quickly, he came up with an answer he hoped would work. "Yes, I really only came in here to wake you both up. No, I don't think you are ugly. You two are the most beautiful kunoichi in the village." He prayed to the Goddess that this would work out right. He was rewarded by both girls giving him a peck on the cheek.

It was Ino that spoke up for the both of them this time. "Don't worry Naruto-kun, we know you wouldn't ever act like a pervert on purpose. We were just playing with you a little. Thanks for calling us beautiful though. Now.. if you would please leave so that we can get changed?" The blonde teen nodded, hopping off the bed and vanishing from the room like he was never there, much to the girls' amusement. "Ahh, it's so hard to get him flustered like that. You just have to do it when you can, right? Still, he did make a good pillow.. I wish we could have slept a little more like that." Hinata nodded her agreement as they got ready for the day. At breakfast, the two found Naruto shooting a dark glare at Reina who was busy whistling a happy little tuneless song as she finished cooking. "Ah, good. You're both awake now. Sit down and eat, you've got a busy few days ahead of you."

After a tense first few minutes on Naruto's part, breakfast resumed as normal, though mild glares continued to be shot at Reina who matched them with a bright smile every time. Everybody else at the table who noticed were merely confused. Soon enough though, the four career ninja left the house, leaving Reina to run the flower shop as usual.

The genin trio made their way through Konoha until reaching training ground 44 at the outskirts of the village itself. There was a tall chain link fence surrounding the whole of a deep, ancient forest that made memories of a dark jungle flash through Naruto's mind. He shook his head, clearing the thoughts out before looking towards one of the gates nearby, seeing Anko sitting on top of a wooden shack, eating away at a massive order of dango without a care in the world. That is, until she recognized they boy Ibiki had described to her. Well, if she couldn't have any fun with him during the test, she would just have to get it in now.

Naruto felt the sharp edge of a kunai graze his cheek, burying itself in the ground behind him. Next thing her knew, Anko had draped herself over his shoulders, running her tongue slowly across the cut she had just made. "Mmmm.. You taste good. I could get used to that taste." As she spoke, she pressed her generous chest against his back, determined to get a rise out of him. Either fright or frustration would have satisfied her, but he showed neither. Instead, he merely smirked under his scarf. "Now now, Anko-san. Is that really a way you should be treating a student that will be taking your test? People might think I pass too easily because of a possible relationship."

Anko inwardly seethed. 'Damn it! Ibiki was right about one thing, this kid can see through mind games.' She began to feel a chill in the air, and noticed the twin pair of death glares she was earning from Naruto's team mates. Deciding that now would be the best time to pull out, she straightened up, adjusting her cloths to keep whatever sense of modesty she had left, and walked back to her original place, though not without making another attempt at frustrating her newfound blonde 'toy'. "Oh, don't worry about this test. The one I'll give you later, in private, will be much more strenuous." A grin, a devilish wink, and she was free. Naruto just sighed, feeling Yuuko already healing the cut on his cheek. "Why is it the odd ones always crawl out of the woodwork when I'm around?"

Anko jumped back on top of the shack she had been sitting on earlier, calling the attention of the gathered ninja before her. "Alright maggots, Ibiki let you guys through nice and easy compared to what I'm gonna do to you." With a snap of her fingers, one of her assistants tossed two scrolls up to her which she caught with ease. One was a black scroll with a white border while the other was its complete opposite. Black was marked with the kanji for Earth, and white marked with Heaven. "You'll note that I have two scrolls here in my hands. One of these little beauties will be given to your team before you enter the forest. Your mission is to find the counterpart to your team's scroll, take it from another team by any means necessary, and I mean any means, and reach the tower in the center of the forest within five days. At some point during this test, you will be given the OK to open your scrolls up. Do so before that time, and the punishment will be severe." The purple haired jonin slapped the fence behind her, a sadistic leer on her face. "There's a reason this place is called 'The Forest of Death' by us jonin and ANBU that use it as our playground. Wild animals, poisonous snakes, even the trees themselves may try to kill you. Death is a definite option, so prepare yourselves. The test will start in ten minutes, so get your scrolls and get into position."

As the scrolls were being passed around, Anko watched, just to make sure nothing happened. One of the teams caught her eye somehow though. It looked like a simple, unassuming team from the land of grass. She really couldn't quite place it, but something was familiar. She couldn't wait around to figure it out though, she had a test to run, and a blonde genin to harass. Nobody got the best of Anko.

It had been agreed within their squad that Naruto would be the first to carry their scroll. However, it would be sealed inside of one of the many small storage scrolls he carried on his person as usual. This scroll would then be passed to the next every hour, on the hour. Naruto grinned, pulling his mask down so the girls could see his face. "Ready to set a record you two? Right from the start, we find a team not affiliated with Konoha, and take their scroll. If it matches ours, we either keep hunting, or make a trade. If we get separated, the question to ask should have something to do with our regular code names. Only the rest of our regular group knows them, and I don't believe they would attack us." He finished his wrap up just as the gates were flung open. Pulling his mask back over his still grinning face. "Let's do this!"The three tore into the forest, taking to the treetops. Hinata activated her byakkugan, extending her vision as far out as she could, sweeping the area around them to find their prey.

Forty minutes later found a team from Ame, each wearing what looked like gas masks, running through the forest, frantically trying to get away from an unseen menace. The boy at the head of the group turned his head back to see if both of his comrades were still with him. Each had been dodging attacks and traps for a half an hour straight now, and were running on their last legs. As if to confirm this, the ninja running at his left collapsed on the ground. Cursing, the other two stopped to help their team mate back up, but saw a beautiful girl with pale lavender eyes and hair that looked raven dark under the shadow of the trees holding him down with a foot between his shoulder blades. In her hands were a set of tonfa, and she was watching the other two to see if they would risk coming closer.

"You.. You bitch, get the hell off of Geki! Who the hell do you think you are, huh?" Before his team leader could stop him, the last of the three made a leap towards Hinata. That is, until he was batted aside and subdued by another girl, this one blonde and wielding a long spear, the blade of which was currently resting just over his jugular. "Oh, I'd watch what you call Hinata-chan if I were you. Our Naruto doesn't take too kindly to people insulting us you know. Just ask him for yourself."

The leader of the group found himself in just as tense of a situation, the blade of an unfamiliar type of long, curved sword resting right against his own neck. The voice that came from behind seemed jovial, almost as if he was far too used to situations like the current one. "Our Naruto, Ino? Since when did I belong to you two?" Ino huffed, just as comfortable with the situation as Naruto. "A girl can dream, can't she? What girl wouldn't want a man like you to protect our good name and purity?" Naruto sighed, over the last month those two had been saying things like that a lot. Not to mention the odd morning he'd had. Putting it all aside, he schooled his voice into the dark, serious tone he used whenever on missions. "You gave us a good chase, ninja of Amegakure, but you've run out of luck. We'll be taking your scroll. I suggest that you don't try to come after us if you do still want to stay in the exam after all this." Reaching into his hostage's pack, he found what he was looking for. It was a heaven scroll, the partner to their earth. "Hinata, have I ever told you that I love your eyes?" The Hyuuga girl giggled softly, a light blush appearing on her cheeks at the praise. "Good work to you too Ino, nice idea, leading them through the trap field. Jonin training grounds are something else entirely. Now then, shall we?"

Intent on finding their way to the tower as soon as possible, the trio payed little attention to anything else other than moving on a clear path, once again utilizing Hinata's bloodline to their advantage. As such, they emerged from the forest in a mere hour and a half since the beginning of the test, surprising the gate guard who hadn't really been expecting anybody to show up until the very end of the day at least. They were ushered into a small room with a wide scroll on the wall that was a thinly veiled affirmative to open up their scrolls. The solution was simple enough, they unsealed their scrolls and opened them simultaneously. Seeing that there was a summoning jutsu written on both scrolls, they laid them out on the ground, watching to see what would happen. After only seconds of waiting, a plume of smoke issued from the scrolls, and when it subsided, Asuma was standing there, beaming proudly. "Heh, knew you guys had it in you to get this far, but in this little amount of time? You really didn't take your time at all, did you?"

Naruto, Ino, and Hinata smiled at their teacher, relaxing upon realizing that this portion of the test was actually over. "Well, we decided that we'd stop holding back as much during the tests. This is just the natural outcome I guess." Ino explained as she strapped the long spear to her back so that it wouldn't be in the way. "Not that we aren't happy to see you though, why are you here Asuma-sensei?"

Asuma flicked ash off the end of his cigarette, chuckling. "Well, I wanted to be the first to congratulate you guys on making it this far. Normally, this is a job reserved for the chunin, but I convinced him that he wanted to let me do it instead. Let's head in now, there's places you can rest all over the tower while you wait for the other applicants to show up."

Something like that should have taken quite a while. However, it seems that nothing is ever normal when Naruto is involved. A mere seven minutes after they had arrived, so did the team from Suna. If either Naruto or Gaara were surprised to see each other, they didn't show it. They had both separated from their teams, and had met each other in one of the hallways of the tower. Naruto sniffed the air, throwing Gaara a meaningful look. "I see you've killed already, huh Gaara? Hopefully it wasn't anybody I knew."

Gaara shook his head slightly. "Not unless you were friends with ninja from Amegakure. I didn't expect anybody else to be good enough to get here this fast. You really are interesting, Naruto-san. I've been.. interested in what you were saying just the other day. About taming the beast I mean. Just what would you know about my demons?"

"You mean Shukaku hasn't said anything about it yet? No, I doubt he would. I would think he's concerned with little else than driving you to the limits of your sanity. As for what I know?" Naruto stopped tightening the bandages covering his right arm only long enough to raise nine fingers. "You aren't the only one of us in this world Gaara-san, not counting you and I, there are seven others. I have made peace with my tenant, and I am offering you the same. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to catch some air outside. Oh, and just a warning. Regardless of what kind of life you've lead, if you harm any of my precious ones, I will deliver swift justice." He passed the other boy by, heading down the corridor towards one of the tower's exits.

Gaara was in a state of mild shock, something completely unfamiliar to him. 'The nine tails? A Jinchuuriki that leads a life of his own choosing? I would think that Konoha would be keeping him under lock and key, with that much power inside of him. And he even claims to have quieted the lord of the tailed beasts..' Left to his thoughts, the boy wandered the halls of the tower alone.

Once outside again, Naruto took a deep breath, scanning the area around the tower from his vantage point on one of the balconies of the tower. He grinned as he saw three figures he recognized as Kiba, Choji, and Shino, making their way towards the base. 'Good, they've made it fine. Now Shika just needs to pull their team through. My little talk with Sasuke should have given him the drive to at least work together with them to make it here. I think I've got Gaara thinking. If he comes to me, all the better, but if I have to face him the outcome will be about the same. All that's left now is to wait for the rest of the teams to make it through.' His thoughts were broken by a single kunai lodging itself in the wooden rail right beside his hand. Sighing as he recognized the scent, he turned to see Anko leering at him.

"So, tell me. How does a genin, fresh out of the academy, make their way through the Forest of Death with barely a scratch? The two girls of your team as well. Even most chunin can't do what you and your squad did. I like you, you know? The taste of your blood is heavenly. I think it's time I gave you that little test I promised." Naruto quirked a brow, wondering what this insane woman could be talking about this time. He was only answered with a single word, said as a command. "Run." Anko pulled the kunai she had cut Naruto with earlier out of her pouch, slowly, sensually licking the blade while giving the blonde a hungry look.

All Naruto did was pull his scarf up before jumping backwards off of the balcony, landing gracefully on his feet. Asuma had learned that this wasn't ever an easy game to play with Naruto. The boy had a way of turning the game on it's head and turning the hunter into the hunted. "Well, try and find me then, Anko-san. You won't find me running scared." Turning, Naruto took to the forest, creating shadow clones to make false trails once he was out of sight.

* * *

Anko was having fun. It had been a very long time since she had found somebody who played her game like Naruto did. Ever since he had entered the forest, she hadn't seen the real one, finding only clones. Her prey had even gone so far as to leave traps for her, some of which she barely escaped unscathed. It was only at the end of the latest trap field that she saw him, waiting for her, blade drawn. "There you are! Finally done running now?" She couldn't see the grin hiding beneath his scarf, but she knew something was off. Call it a hunch, but she could tell that his aura seemed entirely different and yet all too familiar.

The laugh that issued from the boy was something out of her nightmares. "Kukuku.. There you are Anko-chan. Carried away with your little games as always." In a puff of smoke, the appearance of the figure before her changed into one she remembered all too well. Pale face, long black hair, and yellow eyes. Her old sensei, Orochimaru had returned to Konoha. With this realization came a searing pain between her left shoulder and her neck.

"You! Why the hell are you back?! What more could you possibly want from this place?!" Gritting through the pain, Anko slowly reached for one of the hidden kunai she kept on her person. "Are you going to kill me Anko-chan? Fine, show me a good time, and I might just let you in on my little plan" Orochimaru set himself into his favored stance, waiting for his opponent to make her move.

Elsewhere in the forest, Naruto was confused. For a while, Anko had kept right up with him, but now she had dropped off the radar completely. He was starting to get worried that she had finally turned their game around again, and now he was the hunted. Then there were the whispers. Everywhere there were whispers, getting louder and louder the deeper into the forest he went. They had been there before, but he had ignored them to complete the mission, but now he was compelled to find out what they were. So, he went in further, wondering at the life around him. Enormous tigers, pythons the size of trees, even insects as large as his fist. His lips pulled up in an amused smile. Most of what he saw looked so close to the creatures in his memories that he could only assume that this was a sanctuary for them. One of the few places of the world where they could thrive and evolve.

After wandering for several hours, completely forgetting about anything he had been doing previously, he found a wide, sunlit clearing where the whispers were the loudest. In the center of the clearing, a small figure stood, looking very much like a cross between a tree and a woman. Although turned away from him, Naruto could tell she was smiling by the tone of her voice. Soft and calming in a motherly way. "Well there y' are now. Y' do know I've been calling you all day now. Come and sit with me, I want to talk with you." He did as she asked, sitting down in the grass beside the figure. "Dryad, you know I've worried about you the most out of all the spirits? To my knowledge, the Senju clan is the only one you've given your trust to in all the years since the fall of the Tree."

Dryad nodded, emerald eyes looking towards the boy beside her. "And why do you think that is, Naruto?" The boy sighed, following his habit of looking down at his bandaged hand whenever thinking. "The Senju clan held the dream of peace. In most situations, they would fight only if absolutely necessary. Even then, they were so respectful of life that they would avoid killing. Instead, they devoted their lives to growing things." Dryad closed her eyes, giving a small nod. "That is about how it went, though more people than you realize can use one aspect of my nature. I once favored a medic of this village years ago, but that's beside the point. Now why do you believe that I would deny you my help?"

"My intentions.. may not be as noble as I say. Yes, I want to end the war, but I see no way around the fighting. I know I can't bring the world to true peace through senseless killing. I fear that to break the cycle, I will have to become a part of it. You are the spirit that has the closest ties to life itself, so the only conclusion I can come up with is that I would be rejected." Spotting a thistle growing in a small patch of flowers as he talked, he pulled it out of the ground.

"I see why you would think that way, but, Naruto, what did you just do there?" Surprised, he looked at the weed in his hand. "I just pulled a thistle. It would have choked out the other plants here if I let it go to seed." Dryad nodded, smiling knowingly. "Exactly! Naruto, that is the correct answer. Although everything has a life, even that weed, some lives are dangerous to the others around it. For the Great Tree to grow again, thus reviving the Goddess, the weeds of this world must be pulled. If this can be done peacefully, good. If not, we do what is necessary. Don't let preconceived notions of right and wrong cloud your judgment. Now that you understand my nature, I will join my power with yours. One last thing though. One of the weeds that will hold the Tree back is now in this forest. In fact, I believe that woman you were with before has encountered him. Find them quickly Naruto, her life may depend on you." As she spoke her last words, she reached over to touch the gauntlet, the bandages ripping apart as a deep emerald gem set itself into one of the empty slots.

Naruto clenched his fist, his face set in new found confidence. "Anko's in trouble huh? Don't know how much I can do to help out a jonin, but what the hell." He made the cross seal to summon twenty shadow clones around him in a ring. "Alright, listen up! Look for Anko. Fan out from here. If you see anything suspicious, take yourselves out. Go!" At his word the clones almost vanished, pumping chakra into their legs and feet to move far faster than normal. Naruto himself stood in meditation with Tsukihitsume in hand, drawing enough of Jinn's chakra into the blade to change its normal, pure white glow turquoise. Minutes passed until the sensation that signaled the death of a clone hit him. Grinning, he pulled his scarf up before making a single one handed seal, vanishing from the clearing with a strong gust of wind.

* * *

Anko cursed to herself, scanning the area around. Once again, Orochimaru proved too quick minded for her, and she took out a simple mud clone. Now he had disappeared entirely, hiding somewhere in the trees while waiting for the right time to make his next move. This came in the form of several snakes coming from behind to wrap around her and the tree she was standing near. The man himself left hiding, coming out to taunt his prey. "Still no good Anko-chan. This is why I left you behind. You are just too weak. But.. I guess I can tell you a little about my plan. I've given that little Uchiha boy a present, one that will have him seeking me out soon enough. If he survives that is. Of course, that's far from everything. Do tell your Hokage not to cancel the exams. I would hate for anything to go seriously wrong. Now, I have other things to attend. Goodbye Anko-chan"

Just as Orochimaru vanished, Naruto appeared in a powerful gust of wind, the hard look in his eyes letting Anko know that he was willing to kill. She caught his attention as she continued to struggle against what were once snakes, but had been changed by kawarimi into thick ropes. "Kid, your timing sucks. The bastard's already gone. Now, would you kindly cut me loose? I think my arms are going numb." Naruto sighed, his eyes softening, and with a flick of his wrist, he severed the ropes, catching Anko before she fell to the ground. "Anko, please tell me that wasn't who I think it was. What the hell would Orochimaru be doing in Konoha? I thought he was exiled years ago."

Disliking weakness in any form, Anko pushed the blonde off, struggling to her feet. "Damned if I know. All I could get outta him was that Uchiha was targeted. Bastard probably stuck him with a curse mark. Ah! Damn it!" Hissing in pain, she reached behind her shoulder, covering the black mark that had surfaced the moment she had recognized Orochimaru. Naruto, concerned for somebody he failed to protect, sheathed his blade, snatching Anko's wrist and moving it aside. "Is that what this is? Some kind of tattoo or something." The older woman was just about to yell at him to mind his own business when he began to trace the mark with his right hand. Almost immediately, the pain vanished.

When he touched the mark, Naruto felt something dark and powerful. Something that he had never felt while awake, but knew far too well. "That guy.. He's found a way to harness Thanatos. I thought they were dead.. Oh, this can't be good."

* * *

And that's it for this chapter. Not much action, I'm sorry, but you'll get plenty in the next few updates. Be prepared for big changes to start from here on. The next few chapters will loosely follow cannon, but this is where I really begin to branch away. Also, to those who were waiting for a bit o' fluff, I hope you enjoyed Naruto's little encounter there.

Also, if this chapter isn't quite as good as the last few, I was chipping through writers block the whole time I was working on this. For some reason, just this one chapter completely eluded me. Next chapters will be much, much better and most likely, longer.

Something to discuss with you all. I'm thinking about, mind you, only thinking, about adding Anko to the harem. Not until much, much later in the story if I even do it at all. I'll let you guys tell me your thoughts on that. If it turns out to be a resounding yes, then I'll probably go ahead and do it, if there's a bit of support, I might. If the idea is shot down like I have a feeling it will be, then I'll keep it as is.

As always, my dear readers, I ask that you leave a review for me to read. I love the constructive criticism. So go on, click that button down there and give me something to read. Till next update.


	8. Chapter 8: Beginning the Descent

Alright my dear readers, I think it's time I told you how you've all been doing! So far, this story has gotten 56 reviews, 14,050 hits (not sure how many visitors, but I love you all too!), 19 C2s, 75 favorites, and 116 alerts. Wow.. Thank you everybody! I'm glad you all enjoy my crazy little rewrite. From this chapter, on, things are going to be splitting further from cannon at a very quick rate. I hope you all enjoy what I have in store for you.

You know what's strange? In my head, the spirits all have accents. Some of these are taken from Dawn of Mana, others came out of my own crazy brain. Undine has a light French accent, Dryad's got one of those pretty, gentle little Irish accents. Salamander and Jinn both have American accents for whatever reason. Gnome has a bit of a Scottish accent, Shade has something like a dark Romanian. Maybe because I associate him with a vampire or something. Aura and Wisp have yet to develop theirs, but I'm pretty sure they will before I introduce them.

* * *

Beginning the Descent

"...What the hell is Thanatos? Don't talk nonsense, we need to warn Hokage-sama about this!" Anko was working herself back up to her usual temperament in a hurry. Naruto, however, felt that sensation again, his eyes going from concerned, to blank, to furious in a split second. "I don't have the time to explain. You can handle that Anko. I have something else to take care of right now." Before she could object, the teen had his sword drawn, charged, and vanished in a gust of wind. "Something else? What, does he have eyes in the woods or something? And that was a wind shunsin.. Looks like I have more to report to Hokage-sama than just Orochimaru."

Seven figures on the forest floor were what he saw. One, dressed in green spandex, was passed out beside a tree. Another with dark hair was passed out under the roots of one of the large trees. The other five were standing in the center of the clearing. Three were the team from Otogakure, while the other two were people that he knew all too well. The pink hair on one and the short, spiky ponytail on the other were far too distinct. A quick survey of the area told him roughly what had been happening before he had shown up. Several traps had been sprung and now lay around, useless. Sakura was riddled with kunai wounds, and her once long hair had been cut very short. He could see much of it on the ground in one area, and a few hairs clinging to the sleeve of the Oto kunoichi. 'She must have gotten herself caught and chopped her hair to get free. Maybe she's finally getting serious about her work.. I won't interfere yet though. Not unless they really need my help. This is their fight, and if I were to get involved now, they wouldn't get any stronger from it...'

On the floor, Shikamaru let out an inward sigh of relief. That presence from above could only be Naruto. If things got bad enough, he knew they would at least make it out alive and able to try again next test. "Sakura, I need you to stall them for a while longer. I need a bit of time to think. Can you do it?" Tired emerald eyes glanced over to him before firming up. "Only a little longer. I haven't gotten any rest since Sasuke was..." She shook her head to clear those thoughts. 'Have to focus on the mission at hand.' "I'd say I could hold out another minute or so, so hurry up." Her teammate nodded, kneeling down in his usual thinking pose while Sakura steeled herself up for another round. Nobody but Naruto noticed the dark aura that had begun to emanate from Sasuke's prone form.

* * *

Anko had made her way towards Hokage tower as quickly as she could, panting once she stood in front of her leader's desk. "Ho.. Hokage-sama! I have bad news from the chunin exams! While I was out harassing that Uzumaki brat, I had the pleasure of running into my old sensei." The aged man's eyes widened at that, his eyes immediately flicking towards Anko's left shoulder where he knew the curse seal to be. "I have several questions about your reasons before finding Orochimaru, but those can wait. The curse seal?"

The woman shivered, seeing the hard look in the old man's eyes, vaguely recalling something about the last ninja who tormented his favorite blonde. If she remembered correctly, Ibiki had the man at his disposal for over a month, and he had spent the following three in Konoha Hospital's ICU. "Let me just say this first, it was a game we both decided to play. Uzumaki-san found me shortly after Hebi-teme left. Somehow, a genin was able to use wind shunsin like it was nothing. When he found me in pain, he examined the curse seal. Strangely, once he touched it, all the pain vanished and he mumbled something about Thanatos, whatever that is. Before I could get a clear answer out of him, he got a blank look for a split second before claiming to have other business in the forest, and left with another wind shunsin."

The hard look melted slightly as he listened to her hasty account of her run in with his former student, and he quirked an eyebrow when he heard her mention Naruto easing the pain of her seal. "Anko, which hand did he touch the seal with?" The jonin was confused, but answered anyway. "It was his right, sir. The one he always has bandaged up." A small smile began to creep its way onto the aged Hokage's face. "How is it that this boy has done something that none of our medical professionals have figured out? Up until now, not even numbing agents have dulled your pain, much less killed it outright. Anko, let me see the seal."

Confused again, Anko just did as she was ordered, dropping the left sleeve of her coat just enough to bare her shoulder while turning around. Hiruzen Sarutobi began to chuckle as his suspicions were proven correct. "Anko-san, it looks like you owe Naruto for much more than easing your pain. It would seem that he has also, unwittingly perhaps, removed the seal entirely." She was in shock now. Not wanting to cling to a false hope, she did something she hadn't willingly done before, try to activate the seal. When not even a twinge of pain struck her, and she felt none of the darkness that usually came over her when the seal would activate on its own while she was still a little girl, her eyes began to tear up from sheer joy. "It's gone! It's really not there any more! How the hell did that kid do it though?

Hiruzen shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry Anko-san, but that's something I can't really tell you about. If you want to know, ask Naruto. Now then, how are we to deal with the traitor in our midst?" Forcing herself to calm down and think clearly, the two began to discuss plans and countermeasures for this latest threat to Konoha.

* * *

Back in the forest, Naruto was down on the turf. Sasuke had woken up with the seal spreading itself across his body. It seemed that he had given in completely to the influence of the evil thing as evidenced by the strangely sadistic gleam in his eye. Before Naruto had hopped down to stop him, Sasuke had confronted one of the Oto shinobi, the thin one with holes in his palms that allowed him some control over sound waves, and, thus, air pressure. Jinn had scoffed that somebody would need a device to do such things, but Naruto was at least mildly impressed by the attack the teen could use, even if he was a one trick pony. Sasuke had managed to get behind the poor person, take hold of his arms, and dislocate them both by placing his foot between his shoulder blades and pulling hard.

The curse mark began to spread itself further on Sasuke's body as he went in for the kill, only to have Naruto appear out of nowhere and stop him in his tracks. "Sasuke, it's time to stop. You've got to snap out of this now, or it might be too late." He turned towards the two remaining ninja, his eyes cold and sharp like chips of ice. "You serve Orochimaru, but by your reactions, he didn't tell you about this little plan of his. Run now and leave your scroll, otherwise I cannot guarantee your safety." turning his gaze back to Sasuke, he dodged a kunai aimed for his right lung, lifting and throwing the crazed teen's victim to his still standing team.

"Too late for what, dobe? Or is it that you don't like me having power for a change? I finally have what I've been wanting all along, the power to take on Itachi! You won't beat me any more." as the seal began to crawl further across Sasuke's body, Naruto let out an internal groan. 'Yuuko, Jinn, I've got to finish this fast. How long can my body handle an awakening before I risk damage?'

In Naruto's mindscape, Yuuko's eyes widened. "Naruto, it's still too dangerous to do that! There's got to be another way." Outside, Naruto was knocking aside another attack, this one aimed at his liver. 'It's the only thing we can do to keep Thanatos from taking too deep a root! If I'm right, all I have to do is get a good hit in on his seal, but it's got to be in the next few seconds or he might be taken for good.' Yuuko put on a pained face, looking towards Jinn who was floating nearby. "If it's just Jinn.. Ten seconds before I start to wear your network down to dangerous levels. I won't let you go past that."

Leaping back, Naruto grimaced. 'I guess ten will have to do. God I'm gonna be tired after this is over.' He made a single, unique hand seal that made Sasuke give pause, trying to figure it out, before delving deep into his body, touching a great power he had forbade himself from accessing long ago. Much like the scene during the first fight with Zabuza, Naruto exploded with chakra, his already wild blonde hair billowing from the wind issuing from his body. The thin white marks curving down to the corner of his eyes reappeared, but this time the ethereal turquoise wing sprouting from his left shoulder was decidedly more solid. "One," His deepened voice ground out before he vanished to all other eyes but Sasuke's empowered sharingan.

Sasuke grunted as he struggled to block a quick barrage of attacks from his blonde opponent. Even more infuriating was that, though he could see and react to Naruto, for some reason he wasn't getting the feeling from his sharingan that told him he was copying what was being thrown at him. "What the hell are you doing, Dobe?! Why can't I copy you?!" The only response he got was the boy flipping backwards and drawing two ornate curved daggers from hidden sheaths behind his lower back. "Two." Now he was something like a whirling, bladed typhoon. Whenever Sasuke blocked one of the blades, another wasn't far behind. "Three"

"The hell are you counting for?" Sasuke was quickly getting worn down. Naruto was wearing his reaction time thin on purpose, but for what? Then it happened. His foot caught on a thin root that had risen over the topsoil and he faltered for only a split second. "Four!" Naruto tossed the knife in his right hand into the air and reached out, taking hold of Sasuke's shoulder over where he felt the seal at its strongest. Sasuke let out an ear piercing scream as the warm metal of Naruto's hand clamped over his shoulder. He began to feel drained, and noticed, for the first time, the black marks that had been creeping out from the seal. The more drained he felt, the further the marks began to recede. For his part, Naruto hissed in pain at the contact. "Five!"

Sakura was watching the whole thing with shock evident in her eyes from the point where Sasuke had woken up. When Sasuke began to scream as he was, she made the attempt to move to help him, only to find that Shikamaru was holding her back with a modified version of his kagemane no jutsu, pinning her down by planting his obsidian blade into her shadow. "Shika, let me go! I've got to help him!" Her lazy teammate only shook his head. "I think Naruto's helping him enough. Look closely, that weird mark that creepy snake ninja put on him is receding now. I have no idea how he's doing it, but I think we should leave him be." She looked at him like he was crazy before turning back, anxiously chewing on her bottom lip.

"Six!" The blade that Naruto had thrown was deftly caught with his left hand. Every nerve in Sasuke's body was screaming at him as if the dark power that had been flooding his body was clawing to stay while Naruto forced it back. "Seven.." Naruto's vision began to swim, not from the sting of the curse seal, but from his chakra pathways beginning to approach their breaking point. Yuuko began to worry, watching the strain on her surrogate son's body approach critical limits faster than she had predicted. "Naruto! You've got to cut it now or the strain will be too much!"

"Dammit all! I can't break this!" With a final cry of frustration, Naruto let go of the power he had been tapped into, dropping to a knee while Sasuke fell to the floor, all traces of the seal, save the main symbol on his shoulder, gone. When he looked to the side to see if the sound shinobi were still present, he was pleased to see only a scroll bearing the symbol for heaven. He turned his tired gaze to Shikamaru and Sakura, "Hope that's the one you need. I don't think I can help you guys with another. See you at the finish line." Stumbling to his feet, he made a single hand seal and vanished in another gust of wind.

Sakura was incredulous, working out the kinks in her muscles that were a typical side effect of Shikamaru's favored jutsu before checking up on Sasuke. "That Naruto, I swear he hurt Sasuke just for fun! All he was doing is protecting us.." Shikamaru scooped up the scroll, being sure to check for any attached traps. "I dunno. He usually doesn't do anything that isn't necessary. He was actually watching us from before Sasuke even woke up. Troublesome guy probably thought a good fight would help us get stronger. I think he only stepped in because he thought Sasuke was going out of control.. I'll have a talk with him when we get to the goal, so don't worry too much. Let's just get where we need to go for now"

* * *

Naruto arrived back at the tower and quickly leaned against the outer wall to restore his balance. Looking up at the sky, he discovered that he had been out for nearly twelve hours. "My how time flies when you're having 'fun'. The girls are probably worried about me by now." Minutes after he reentered the tower, his suspicions were confirmed. Hinata rushed up to him, byakkugan active out of instinct. "Naruto! Where have you been? What have you done to yourself? You're a mess!" He chuckled, making a futile attempt to waver her concerns aside. Hinata, however, would have none of it. For whatever reason, she would see him in varying states like this every so often when he would take on a portion of a mission by himself. She knew that, whatever it was, he didn't want her or Ino to know and worry about him, and that made it even worse. She had been steadily gaining confidence in herself through her experiences with her team on missions and in social life, and all of this brought her to a breaking point.

"Naruto, you idiot! Why do you always play your injuries off as nothing?! Do you think it's easy for Ino and I to see you dragging yourself around when anybody else would be half dead? For the love of the Goddess, we care about you! We love you!" Those last three words brought her back to her senses, and she quickly clapped her hands over her mouth, a deep blush filling her cheeks. Naruto was dumbstruck. "You.. you both.. love me? When? Why?" The blushing girl moved her hands just enough so that she wouldn't be as muffled.

"Since.. All the way back to the academy.. For the last few months.. since we were put on a team together, we've been trying to catch your attention. But.. It's like you're always in a world of your own, like you've put your heart somewhere that nobody can touch. My father told me.. after our first day of class, that by then, you had lead a harder life than most people his age." She stepped closer, wrapping her arms around his chest and burying her face in his shoulder, something she had been wanting to do for far too long. "What did he mean by that? You always seem calm and collected. When you're with the rest of the group, you act goofy and happy. But.. the few times I've seen you alone and not working yourself into the ground, you seem so sad and lonely. Ino and I always wonder which one is the real you. Please, we have another few days of downtime. Please will you tell us everything? You know all about us, but nobody seems to know a thing about you other than what you let everybody see."

Naruto sighed gently, returning the smaller girl's embrace. "Hinata.. If I tell you everything, I'm afraid. What you guys don't know about me is something that may change your view of Konoha itself. You need to know that. Also.. I'm afraid that, if I tell you and Ino, it'll change your view of me as well. Can you handle that?" She knew he was telling the truth, he had never lied to her before. Still, she couldn't help but make a small joke at his expense. "Naruto, you forget, we're ninja. Every day we learn something new that makes us question the very world around us. I think we can handle it. And, before you ask, yes I do speak for Ino as well. She's even more curious than I am, and more than once I've had to keep her from trying to beat all those little secrets out of you." She let out a small giggle, inhaling his scent. Naruto just smiled weakly. "Alright then, let's go find her. It's a bit of a long story, and I don't want to be rushed."

The search didn't take very long at all. Hinata knew exactly what Ino and Naruto's chakra paths looked like, so the blonde girl was easy to find. Before Ino said a thing though, she got a good look at Hinata's face. That odd mixture of embarrassment, pride, and anxiety spoke volumes. "Hinata.. you told him everything, didn't you?" The pale eyed girl blushed a little deeper. "Yes. Naruto-kun has agreed to tell us what we wanted to know though. He says it's a long story." Ino nodded. Conveniently enough, they had found each other in one of the sleeping quarters of the tower, so she simply locked the door, sat down on one of the beds, and patted the mattress beside her. Naruto took that signal to sit down, breathing a deep sigh.

"Well, I guess it's time to spill it all, huh? First off, I have to say this. I don't know much about love. The reasons why will be explained soon enough. I want you both to know that, though I know very little, I will try my best to return this wonderful gift. Just try to give me a little time to get used to it. Now, let me ask you both something. What exactly do you know about the Kyuubi attack sixteen years ago?" Ino scoffed. "That's easy. The yondaime hokage killed the demon at the cost of his own life. I don't see what that has to do with you though." Naruto shook his head. "Everything. That ninja never actually killed the demon, a force of nature is far too great for any mortal to defeat. Instead, at the cost of his life, he sealed the soul and chakra of the fox into the body of a newborn baby. This child's chakra would grow strong enough to contain the demon spirit as he aged. The most important truth here is the name of the child. Naruto Uzumaki." Both girls gasped, but instead of fleeing, they wrapped their arms around him.

"So that's why. That's why almost all the adults look at you as if you don't belong. That's why you live such a hidden, isolated existence." Ino squeezed a little tighter, noticing something she had never seen before. A single tear ran down from Naruto's closed eyes. He cleared his throat to continue. "Well, from then on, my life was a lot like a living nightmare. Several families with ties to my parents, whoever they were, tried to adopt me, but since my little secret was known to all at that time, the council wanted to see the demon child suffer, starve, and die. All attempts were shot down. So, I lived in a run down orphanage on the outskirts of town for about four years until I was kicked out for 'eating more than one bowl of gruel a month'. The old man.. The Hokage got an apartment for me, but it was ransacked so often that it was safer for me to live off the streets..." Over the course of the night, he told them his whole story. Everything about Yuuko and his ties to mana came up and were explained as easily as he could.

It was hours later, and Naruto could be found with the two girls dozing against his chest. He chuckled softly, creating a single kage bunshin to help him lay the girls to rest for the night. Sleep would take far too long to find him though, so he wandered the halls of the tower once again, an expression of deep thought written on his face. He was soon brought out of his reverie, however, by a firm hand on his shoulder. "Alright Naruto, I think it's time we talked. For whatever reason, Sasuke doesn't remember a damned thing about going crazy. What I'm worried about though, is what you used to take him out. Last time I saw that was on the Wave mission, and I remember all too well how you ended up."

The blonde sighed, turning to see Shikamaru looking at him with concern. "That.. it's one of the abilities given to me by the Sword. Look, I appreciate everybody worrying about me, but I'll be fine. I've been working on my tolerance for that particular state in private. Oh, speaking of people who worry, I've just learned something interesting. Am I really so dense that I didn't notice the girls' feelings before a few hours ago?" This elicited a dry chuckle from his friend. "Which one cracked? Probably Hinata I bet. We all understand that you're pretty wound up in your own matters most times. Honestly, after hearing about the sword, and taking into account several of my own suspicions, I'm surprised you keep in contact with anybody at all. I think it'd all be too damn troublesome for me." That gave Naruto a good laugh.

"You know, you really don't fool anybody, Shika. We all know you aren't anywhere near as lazy as you pretend to be. Otherwise, you probably wouldn't have even bothered to become a ninja. About Sasuke though.. Do you remember what I said about Thanatos back in wave?" He got an affirmative nod from the Nara. "Well, it seems like a former Konoha ninja named Orochimaru has developed a way to harness Thanatos by way of curse seals. I'm not sure exactly how or why, but you are going to need to watch him closely from now on. If that seal were to go out of control, I'm not exactly sure what would happen, but I can say this at least. He wouldn't be the Sasuke we know and love to annoy. Now, I've got a couple ladies that would probably be rather irate if I wasn't there when they woke up. If you see Kiba, Choji, and Shino, give them a message. Keep your eyes open, something's not quite right out here. I don't want anybody else ending up with a hickey from Hell." Finally beginning to feel his lack of rest catching up to him, Naruto made his way back to the room he and the girls had occupied, finding them fast asleep. With a sigh of content, he collapsed onto one of the lumpy mattresses, finding comfort in blissful sleep.

As he relaxed that night, four figures at the border of Fire country huddled around a small smokeless fire. They were an odd group, mismatched in everything save their style of dress. Further from the fire than the others was a young teen with long, fire red hair and brown eyes. Contrary to the tough exterior she always presented around everybody, including her team, she now sat huddled around a tattered photograph. It had been given to her by her mother the last time she saw her, nearly two years ago. She could still hear the words the older woman had uttered when she passed the photograph on.

"_Tayuya-chan, my beautiful daughter, you must be strong. Wherever your travels take you, you must always remember that your mother loves you dearly. This is a picture very dear to my heart."_ The younger girl examined the photo she had just been handed. It depicted her mother lying back in a hospital bed with a newborn in her arms. Strangely enough, the babe already had a shock of sun bright yellow hair atop its head. The third figure in the picture had hair much the same color as the baby, and was wearing a proud grin, holding the tired mother and child in his arms. His eyes were a brilliant shocking blue, and he wore a forehead protector with the symbol of a spiral leaf. Seeing the unasked question in her daughter's eyes, the equally red headed woman smiled softly. _"That is me, my late husband, and my precious baby boy. This was shortly after he was born. I.. I lost them both that night. Minato-kun spent his life to seal away the spirit of a rampaging demon into our baby. Shortly before I was abducted, I learned that my son also lost his life in the process, taking the soul of the demon with his tiny little life. Tayu-chan, you know that you were conceived from a twisted experiment of that man.. But you must always remember that I am your mother, and I love you. Let this picture remind you of that for as long as you serve that man.."_

She had been forced into servitude. If she hadn't, her master would have killed her mother, the only person who ever showed her any kindness. She ran her finger over the face of the boy, a rare smile of longing crossing her features. Often enough, she would wonder exactly what her older brother would be like if he were still alive. The only constant trait her mind would give him was that he would be calm, loving, and fiercely protective. 'I wonder what it would have been like if life was different for us all. Would you love me, Nii-san? Even if I am an abomination of science, could you accept me?' She felt the eyes of the largest of their group watching her, and instantly hid behind her rough exterior. "The fuck you lookin' at fatass? You can stop undressing me with your eyes, I wouldn't ever give a shitrag like you a chance." The large man shrugged, her cursing at him wasn't anything close to a new experience. So long as her one little soft spot didn't mess up their mission, he was fine.

* * *

As the time to the next phase of the testing shortened, Naruto wasn't found anywhere without both girls latched to his arms. This was met with great amusement by the rest of the group, especially Kiba who roared out with laughter whenever he saw it. "About damn time," Were his only words the first time he saw them like that. Shino met the sight with a nod, though, for whatever reason, Naruto could tell he was grinning like a maniac behind the high collar of his jacket. The most amusing, though, was Sasuke. Every time he would see the three together, there would be the most amusing one sided glaring contest. "It's like he just expects the females of the major clans to be his by right," Ino had commented about the fifth time it had happened. In any case, time passed by quickly, and, soon enough, all of the teams that had passed through the forest test were standing in front of the Hokage as he briefed them on the next part.

Hiruzen's eyes swept the room, mentally sighing at the number of genin before him. True, he wanted many of them to pass, but he hated drawing the exams out like he was going to have to. "We will now begin the first half of the third exam. Since so many of you passed through the forest, we will be having a preliminary tournament before the main one. The prelims will be done in the privacy of this tower while the main will be held in the Konoha colosseum a month from this day. Now, for the rules of this test." He pointed towards a large screen hanging on the wall several feet above them. "Names will be chosen at random for who you will be matched up against and displayed here. Then, you will battle it out on the floor. The matches will end when the proctor, Hayate-san, calls it, one is knocked out, or killed. It is my wish that you would avoid going to such extremes, however. Now, please make your way up to the balconies and await the first match."

Hidden by the Hokage's seat, under a heavy genjutsu, a certain white haired former student of Hiruzen's was waiting to watch the fights. He had heard that there were several interesting candidates, and he had been looking to take on a protege for a couple years now. He eyed one spiky haired blonde teen with great interest though. 'I wonder.. News was spread that he had died when I left to go underground for the last sixteen years. Could this kid really be Minato's brat? Sure the resemblance is striking.. It could have very well been the council trying to remove any possible help he would have had as a kid.. I'll have to watch very closely. If it is him, I'm going to kill the Old Man for not telling me he was alive a long time ago. I had duties as his godfather dammit! If this is him, I should have been around, not trying to ferret out Hebi-teme. Wonder how Tsu-hime would react to this, close as she was to Kushina.. Hell, if memory serves right, she was even the one who helped birth him.'

Nearly the entirety of Naruto's regular group of friends, team Gai included, watched as the screen became a blur of names. Each were praying to themselves that they wouldn't have to go up against their blonde friend, lest he decide to try something new on them. That always promised to be a painful experience. Naruto, himself, was too busy scoping out the competition to care too much about the board. 'Let's see here.. Looks like those sound ninja didn't manage to get their hands on another two scrolls after our run-in. Looks like somebody's getting a bye. Lucky bastard won't have to strut their stuff at all.' His eyes flicked back to the screen when the names stopped changing, a feral grin creeping onto his face.

**Uzumaki Naruto VS Akido Yoroi**

Hayate and several others in the room couldn't be sure, but they thought they all heard a collective sigh of relief. Hinata got up on her tiptoes, giving Naruto a quick peck on the cheek. "Good luck. Don't be too rough on him, and don't you dare use anything that hurts yourself. I'll be watching." Though her voice was as sweet and gentle as ever, he couldn't help but shudder at the thinly veiled threat. "Don't worry. I only use that sort of thing when it's necessary. You think I like tearing my body apart from the inside?" With a wry smirk, he pulled his crimson scarf over his mouth before leaping down to the floor to meet his opponent.

Up in the stands, Hiruzen felt a massive wave of killing intent directed at him from where he knew his student was hiding himself. It had come immediately after the names hand been announced. 'Oh, come on.. Can't an old man's life get any easier? Looks like I have a lot of explaining to do if I want to get out of this one intact. It's not like I wanted to keep it a secret from him, but Orochimaru needed to be found. Whole lot of good that is now that we know he's in the village again.'

The proctor gave a small cough, catching the attention of the two combatants. "Alright, on my word you begin. Like Hokage-sama said, you fight until I call it or one of you is knocked out or killed. Hajime!" He jumped back a safe distance as the two ninja slid into their respective stances.

Naruto was intrigued as he observed his opponent. For one thing, he could tell that he had lower than the average amount of chakra a passing genin would have. The other thing was that he couldn't see the other guy's eyes at all. Instead, there were just black circles, what he assumed to be one way lenses. The blonde teen had assumed one of the more basic taijutsu stances of Konoha, deciding to err on the side of extreme caution about showing anything of his own work. Yoroi did much the same, nearly mirroring Naruto's stance.

Curious, Naruto decided to speak first and charge later. "So, tell me Akido-san, how is it that somebody with lower chakra reserves than green genin makes it all the way here? You've got to have something pretty damn special that I'm not seeing." Akido chuckled behind the long black cloth covering the lower part of his face. "So you can see that much? Why don't we just get to it, and you'll see soon enough." Naruto grinned. "Ah, a guy after my own tastes for once. I hate waiting."

The two closed the gap between them, Naruto throwing a slower punch than usual to test the other's reaction time. He was gratified when his punch was slapped aside, but that came with a rather interesting feeling. The chakra that naturally flowed through his body, his arm specifically, had been pulled out. To him, it was a minutely small amount, but to most other ninja, that might have been a good portion. His quick mind instantly put the facts together, and he let out an excited laugh. "So you're a chakra vampire huh? Interesting! Too bad I'm the worst opponent you could have gotten." As he spoke, he was hit a few more times, his opponent proving to be rather skilled at taijutsu. "Why do you say that, Uzumaki-san? I'm honestly curious. Most of the time, my little ability sends people into a panic. You barely seem phased."

Akido took a foot to the stomach that pushed him back, and, just like that, they were playing another waiting game. "Why you ask? Haven't you figured it out yet? I'm probably the closest thing to a living chakra battery you'll ever see. You'll reach your limit long before you suck me dry" Taking a tip from a scroll he had skimmed about a medical specialist, Naruto dipped into his deep reserves to supercharge all of his muscles with chakra. "Round two?" A nod from the other, and they clashed in the center of the arena again.

Akido wasn't happy this time though. Now that his ability was out, his opponent had found a way to turn it against him to some extent. The sheer amount of chakra now coursing through the blonde's body was more than he could comfortably handle, and now he was suffering mild burns to his chakra coils with every touch. He could live with that though, it wasn't anything terribly new. What was truly frustrating was that it only felt like he was stealing drops from a bucket rather than tearing large amounts away. That, coupled with the dramatic increase in speed and power that such a technique afforded its user, he was quickly reaching the limits of his endurance. Deciding he had to do something quick and decisive, he broke from the fight, jumped back as far away from Naruto as he could, called on all the chakra he had taken from the blonde, and began to run through hand seals.

Naruto's feral grin returned. "Let's see what 'ya got Vamps! Time to show off a jutsu of my own." He began to run through seals of his own, though Hinata saw something strange. She had been watching the entire fight through her byakkugan, and noticed that the hand seals Naruto was making weren't molding his chakra in any way. 'A bluff? What is he doing?'

Naruto knew he would be faster. The skill he was going to use was altered to look like a standard jutsu, but it used an energy long forgotten by the ninja community. 'Best make it flashy this time. I hate to butcher it like this' He stopped on the ram seal, locking his eyes on the chakra vampire. "Hyoton: Koriharetsu no Jutsu!" His grin widened as he thrust out his right arm, confident that he had disguised the technique behind the typical jutsu fanfare. In front of his hand, the moisture in the air condensed and froze into several thin needles. Right about this time, the other finished his sealing. "Fuuton: Akumakaze no Jutsu" Pouring all of the gained chakra into the technique gave the jutsu a rather high degree of potency. From Akido's body, a strong gust blew through the room, countless deep red blades of chakra winding through it as the jutsu hurtled towards the blonde who merely closed his hand into a fist, sending the needles off around the brunt of the jutsu to its caster. These lodged themselves into Akido's forearms, and he rolled the the side to avoid the first pass of the red wind.

"Ice needles? Sure hyoton is impressive, but a weak jutsu like this is all you can do? I'm disappointed." Akido reached for one of the shards in an attempt to rip it from himself and ease the pierced muscles.

Naruto laughed, making a single hand seal. "You didn't think I would add haretsu to the name if I didn't mean it, did you?" He feigned activating the second part of a tiered jutsu, and the shard Akido had his hand around shattered violently, shredding the flesh of his palm. "Call it Akido. I'd rather not have to blow your arms off." Naruto dodged another pass of the wind as he waited for an answer.

Akido took a second to process everything. If he were to try to pull another of the needles out, his opponent would make it explode like the last one. If he left them, then he might just lose his arms, and thus, his status as a ninja. As fast as his chakra wind was moving, he could tell that Naruto wouldn't be hit any time soon. It was a no win situation. "Fine.. I'm rather attached to these arms. Proctor-san, I will forfeit this match." At those words, the wind jutsu dispersed, and Naruto's needles melted back into simple water. Hayate jumped back into the ring, gesturing to Naruto. "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto, will advance to the finals" Reverting back to his jovial public personality, Naruto gave a deep bow, lowering he scarf to show the wide, cheshire grin gracing his features, before leaping back up to the balcony.

The figure nearby the Hokage was in complete awe. 'That kid.. He pulled off something that took Tsu-hime years to get down. And the hyoton? Where the hell did that come from? As far as I know, neither Minato or Kushina had any ancestry that would have carried that particular kekke genkai. Naruto, you just keep getting more and more interesting..' His eyes flicked toward the screen as it came back to life, blurring through names once more.

**Akamichi Choji VS Inuzuka Kiba**

As soon as the names were announced, the two were on the floor, Kiba grinning with unbridled excitement. "Hey there big guy, been a while since we sparred huh? Don't you dare hold back on me!" He slid into one of the Inuzuka clan's traditional stances while Choji, the gentle giant, smiled placidly. "I wouldn't dare, Kiba. You better afford me the same courtesy though." Kiba's grin widened as Choji took his stance. "You know me man, I don't know the meaning."

Naruto was very impressed with the progress he saw in the two. Choji had expanded his control of his families jutsu that gave him the ability to expand various portions of his body to giant size. That, augmented by an impressive command of taijutsu despite his heft and a healthy arsenal of mid-rank jutsu, kept Kiba on his toes. However, he was fighting two on one. Kiba had his nin-dog Akamaru transform into a perfect clone of himself and together they kept Choji on the run with vicious team tactics. For several long minutes from the beginning of the fight, they were dead even, but eventually Choji's endurance began to wear thin and he was knocked out by a particularly accurate attack from both Kiba and Akamaru.

Naruto was going through a quick mental play by play in his mind, smirking at the fact that, though his two friends had a great match, neither had shown anything close to their full potential. Kiba and Akamaru had a second transformation skill, and Choji always had a set of the special Akamichi food pills that Naruto had jokingly dubbed the 'Akamichi instant diet pills' Though his heavyset friend was working on building up a tolerance to the adverse effects of said pills, they still tended to drain him of every last bit of precious chakra. He hadn't even made an attempt to try the final, red pill yet. Most commonly, people who ate that one ended up dying. When the arena floor was finally cleared once more, the board flashed back into life.

**Subaku Temari VS Kireru Tenten**

Naruto smirked, silently cheering for the girl that had become much like a sister to him after working at her father's shop for so long. This girl from Suna wouldn't be a pushover though. Gaara's team had made it here only minutes after his own, and not all of that could have been the other jinchuuriki's doing. He watched with great interest as Tenten unfurled an incredibly long sealing scroll, unsealing literally hundreds of various weapons and hurling them towards the blonde girl. These were batted aside, however, by simple wind jutsu thrown out by the large object the Suna girl had been carrying which turned out to be an enormous steel battle fan.

With a hiss of regret, Naruto came to the easy conclusion, aware as he was of Tenten's fighting style. 'Two long ranged ninja, but Ten-chan's at a disadvantage. Unless she's learned something new from the last time I saw her and Hinata spar, I don't think she has much of a chance here. If there were just a way for her to control those weapons after they were thrown initially, she might be able to pull it off. I'll have to think on it.' Quite true to his prediction, Tenten lost the match by knockout. As the medical team came around to clear the floor, the board lit up once more.

**Haruno Sakura VS Yamanaka Ino**

Naruto could swear he saw an almost sadistic smile on Ino's face before she jumped down into the ring to await her opponent. Sakura took a short while longer to make her way down, making a point of trying to convince Sasuke to watch her fight with as much interest as he had spent on 'Naruto-baka'

"So, it's time for this, isn't it Sakura?" Ino reached for the spear on her back, twirling it around expertly before tossing it up into the stands for Naruto to catch. The pink haired girl looked on, confused. "Ino, you aren't going to take this seriously? We're fighting in front of Sasuke-kun now! We can finally get him to look at us!"

Ino sighed to herself, placing her palm over her forehead in frustration. "No, I'm not going to take this very seriously. Sakura, when have I ever said I liked Sasuke at all? For the last time, I've never been interested. Besides," She giggled to herself, a light blush gracing her features. "The guy I really like is finally starting to come around. That's beside the point, however. Sakura, you were my best friend when we were very little, so I feel it's up to me to say this. Stop acting like a little fangirl and concentrate on your job!" She flicked the metal plate bearing Konoha's symbol that she used as a sash. "We are kunoichi, Sakura. Genin at that. Right now, our job is to concentrate on getting stronger and protecting the village. Not fawning over the last member of a clan like the civilians do. Until you can come at me like a kunoichi, I refuse to fight you seriously.

Even if these words meant nothing to the outer persona of the pink haired girl, the odd little inner persona latched onto them, storing them somewhere safe while wearing a smug little smirk. **"Blondie's right you know. If you'd just accept me, we might be at her level by now. But no~, you have to play the fool because that's what mother dear wants."** These words went unheeded as well, though nowhere near as easily. She would deal with those thoughts soon enough, right now she had to prove herself to Sasuke-kun!

Ino slid down into a graceful stance that Naruto had helped her create, one that worked well with or without her spear, and awaited the inevitable charge. She knew that Sakura was smart, but she would be willing to bet that Shikamaru or, most likely, Sasuke had done most of the fighting for her up to this point. She was bound to make the serious mistake of an unguarded charge.

It came soon enough for her patience, and when Sakura got close enough, Ino simply shifted around the attack, moving in such a way that her toes never left the floor. Once to the side of her opponent, Ino changed her movement, gracefully lifting one foot off the floor while turning on the toes of the other. This resulted in a heavy heel kick to Sakura's stomach, causing the girl to double over in pain. Ino's foot hit the floor again, and in the same kind of motion, she twirled around behind the pinkette, knocking her legs out from under her.

Up in the stands, Naruto whistled to himself. "I don't know how she does it, but Ino can pull that off with such incredible grace. I've actually only seen you match her fighting style for sheer beauty in motion, Hinata." The girl latched onto his arm gave a small giggle as she watched Ino dance around Sakura. "That's just because we're more flexible by nature." 'You enjoy it, and you know it Naruto,' She refrained from voicing the last part of her thoughts. It wasn't the right time or place for it.

Ino almost felt sorry for Sakura as she curled up on the ground. "You know, Naruto told me that he saw real potential in the way you and Shika fought to defend Sasuke back in the forest. I know you can be strong Sakura! That's why I won't show you any mercy now. I won't let you embarrass yourself any more." Ino ran through a quick set of hand seals, Naruto wincing in the stands as he recognized the jutsu that she was about to use. "Ninpo: Shinkeikogasu no Jutsu!" Stopping at the snake seal, she reached out to touch the back of Sakura's neck.

Pain. That was all Sakura knew in that instant. Every inch of her body felt like it was on fire. The pain was so intense that she couldn't even scream out. All she could do was retreat further into her mind as she slowly lost consciousness. Ino stood up, breathing a sigh. "No damage done there. All I did was trick her brain into thinking every nerve in her body was feeling pain. Please call it now proctor-san. She should wake up just fine in a couple of minutes." Hayate reappeared from wherever he had vanished to, wincing to himself. "That's a pretty brutal technique Yamanaka-san. Anyway, winner is Yamanaka Ino." Nodding, the blonde girl jumped back up into the stands, taking her place at Naruto's side.

"A little much for Sakura, don't you think? Also, using one of Inoichi's interrogation jutsu in an actual fight. You've been doing your own training, haven't you?" Despite the scolding tone in his voice, the wide grin on his face gave him away. "None of that now. You never stop training unless one of us forces you to, so don't you go scolding me." With that, she latched onto the opposite arm from Hinata while the screen began to run through names again.

**Subaku Kankuro VS Tsurugu Misumi**

At first, Naruto really didn't know what to make of the battle. The boy wearing the black jumpsuit still had that large bundle of bandages strapped to his back, while his opponent looked much like Akido did, though with glasses instead of the eerie black lenses. For a while, it looked like it was going to be absurdly normal for a fight between ninja, each resorting to simple taijutsu. It was only when Misumi got Kankuro into a lock that things took a turn for the exciting. It would seem that Misumi could pop any one of his joints apart and control his limbs by channeling chakra through the soft tissues. In short, he constricted his entire body around the black garbed boy much like a snake would a mouse.

That couldn't be all though, Kankuro still had that bundle on his back, he was bound to have something up his sleeve. Then, something strange happened. Kankuro's skin began to crack and fall apart, revealing a frighteningly revolting visage below. 'Well I'll be damned.. It's a puppet user from Suna. I always thought it was a fading art, but here one is. Alright, Kankuro, let's see what you do now.'

Almost as soon as Misumi noticed something was wrong, poisoned blades erupted from nearly everywhere on the puppet's body, shredding what was left of the disguise that had been covering it. Misumi had reacted in time though, pulling away in time to avoid most of the weapons. Once the puppet was revealed, Kankuro, himself, burst from the bundle of bandages. That little dodge did little to save Misumi though, from then on the match was one sided. Kankuro's puppet was a frightening piece of art, poisoned weaponry packed into every tiny cavity. He controlled it as easily as one would their own body. Hayate saw the outcome just as clearly as Naruto did, and stepped out to prevent a casualty. "This match goes to Kankuro. End it now, please."

Heaving a small sigh of disappointment, Kankuro reeled his puppet back in, using a simple jutsu to quickly wrap the bandages around it. "Sorry Karasu, I guess you don't get to have much fun this time" Chuckling to himself, he strapped the bundle to his back and made his way back up to his team. Watching him, Naruto had one of his more brilliant ideas. 'Hold on, that puppet technique might just be the perfect thing for Ten-chan. Instead of chakra strings though, she'd have to use wire. It'll take some practice, and I may even be able to utilize it myself. If I remember right, the standard wire has just enough chakra potential for that application..'

Hinata pulled him out of his thoughts by kissing him on the cheek. "Hmm? Hina-chan, what was that for?" Lavender filled with amusement looked up at him. "Well, you were off in your little world as always, so I thought that was the best way to get your attention. I'm up next, so wish me luck" Naruto blinked, then looked over towards the board.

**Hyuuga Hinata VS Hyuuga Neji**

"Well, this should be interesting. Give your cousin hell for me, Tenshi" Hinata giggled, planting another small kiss on Naruto's cheek. "I was planning on it whether you told me to or not." She let his arm go, gave a small stretch, and hopped off the viewing area, landing gracefully on the floor. "Neji-nii-san, please don't hold back. I've always seen you as a brother and an equal, you know that."

Neji looked apprehensive as Hinata drew her tonfa, well aware of her frightening skill with the weapons. "I don't plan on holding anything back from you Hinata-sama. If you're serious enough to use those, I'll need everything I have to keep up." He lowered himself into the traditional juuken stance, locking his eyes on the girl in front of him. "Shall we begin then?"

* * *

Phew.. This chapter was a pain to start out. For some reason, I had a hard time with all the forest of death scenes. No, the sound team didn't make it in. I never really understood exactly how they made it in cannon. Maybe help from Orochimaru, but he never struck me as caring enough to help them out. Thus, matchups have been changed. This is the last time I'm going to say it. This story is extremely AU. Don't like stories that don't follow cannon? Don't read this.

Now for a breakdown of the jutsu I created.

Hyoton: Koriharetsu no Jutsu; Iceburst is not an actual jutsu. It's actually an ability closer to magic than anything else. Naruto uses the influence over air and water given to him by the spirits to create several shards of ice that later explode at his command. In this instance, he mixed chakra into the technique to make it look more like a jutsu.

Hyoton: Koriharetsu no Jutsu; Devilwind (Or at least that's what I think I was going for.. Could be devilstorm. I really can't remember exactly what haretsu was supposed to be.) is a technique special to him. The chakra he takes from his opponent gives that technique a homing ability against the person the chakra was stolen from. It consists of a strong wind along with several chakra blades in the form of deep red ribbons.

Ninpo: Shinkeikogasu no Jutsu; Nerve scorch. This primarily an interrogation technique. To use it, you must have intimate knowledge of how the brain receives signals from the body. Also, you must use it on the back of the neck where all signals must pass through to get to the brain. The user changes the constant barrage of information received from everywhere on the body into pain signals. In this case, the sensation of burning.

Well then, this chapter is officially a wrap. Not particularly proud of parts of it, but it's what you get. Npw, go right ahead and hit that shiny button. Give me a review that lets me know just how well you think I've done. Until next time, I'm out.


	9. Chapter 9: Truths be Told

Horrid case of writers block on this one. Be forewarned, if anything seems bland or poorly written, that would be why. Good news is, I'm getting to the point where my fic will diverge completely from cannon. Hope you all enjoy this chapter and look forward to the next. Do not own anything already copyrighted in this story.

* * *

**Truths be Told**

Before anybody could blink, the two Hyuuga on the floor were on top of each other, trading blows in an incredible frenzy. Neji had been apprehensive about the match from the start, seeing as Hinata was able to use her weapons much the same as the typical Hyuuga style, only with greater range and force. Of course, it didn't help that she had devised something especially for fighting a fellow clan member. Whenever Neji would make an attack that would correctly strike one of her more important tenketsu, she would give her tonfa a quick twirl in front of his hand, creating a thin, short lasting, but effective chakra barrier. Most of the necessary force behind his attacks would be used to break the barrier and he would be slowed down and open to a counterattack.

Hinata knew, however, that she had to keep Neji on the ropes like this if she wanted to win. Neji was faster than she was where taijutsu was concerned. He really wasn't hailed as the branch house prodigy for nothing after all. If she were to give him even a second on the offensive, her chances of winning would be greatly diminished. Deciding it was time to up the game, she further charged her chakra receptive tonfa, whipping her right arm out to give the weapon a bit of spin, and connected a heavy blow to Neji's left shoulder. Even those without the byakkugan could see the effect of the attack as a wave of deep blue chakra exploded from the point of contact.

Neji winced as he felt several major tenketsu forced shut by Hinata's attack, and jumped back a few feet. "So you've improved that ability even further, Hinata-sama? I must be more careful. But you aren't the only one to improve these past few months!" Tucking his now feeble arm behind his back, Neji sank lower into his stance, extending his right hand out like a claw. Something clicked in Hinata's mind at that stance. It was very much like one of the forms described in a few of the clan scrolls that chronicled the evolution of the gentle fist style. It had been abandoned rather than refined due to the amounts of chakra used. If Neji had really improved it, she was in trouble. Rather than try to dodge an attack with unknown potential, she opted to stop him from using it in the first place, charging the soles of her feet with chakra to increase her speed.

Neji smiled to himself, she was doing exactly what he wanted. "Eight trigrams, pressure bolt!" Gathering a mass of chakra to the tips of his fingers, he whipped his body around, swinging his arm wide. Upon turning full circle, he let the chakra flow into the vacuum his movement had created which combined with the air rushing back in. A crescent of pure air pressure was flung forward with Hinata positioned at its center, leaving no room to escape. Most other genin would panic with an ability like that hurtling towards them, but Hinata overcharged her tonfa again and spun them wide, directly in front of her, and then curled up in the air behind her barrier. All this happened in a span of seconds. Though the brunt of the attack was broken against Hinata's barrier, the crescent still connected, sending her flying back towards the wall behind her. Thinking quickly, she spun in the air to catch herself with her feet, landing safely on the ground afterwards.

"Truly impressive Neji-nii-san, but that should have used quite a bit of your chakra. I'm feeling a little drained myself though.." She spoke truthfully, having used much of her chakra to form the barriers. She flipped her tonfa around in her hands, slipping them through the loops at either side of her hips before assuming the gentle fist stance. "We can show off our other techniques later, I don't want to have to think up new moves for the entire month after this if I win." Neji nodded, mirroring her stance, though still holding his weak arm behind his back. "I agree. Why waste all of our surprises at the preliminary contest?"

As tired as they were, they met in the center of the arena floor to continue their match. Neji, even with his arm in such a state, still proved to be a powerful opponent. Hinata had the advantage there though, and ended up ending the match by closing off the main tenketsu of his remaining arm, and his legs. Unable to use his chakra, Neji withdrew from the match with a rare grin, bowing to Hinata. "Well done my sister. Go on to become chunin with my blessings." Hinata bowed in reply, a gentle smile on her face. "Thank you brother. Would you like for me to restore your chakra flow for you?" Neji looked towards the medical team hurrying onto the floor, noticing a Hyuuga in the bunch. "It's fine, stay and watch the rest of the matches carefully, you need to look for weaknesses in your opposition after all." The girl nodded and the two parted ways, Neji walking out with the medical team and Hinata making her way back up to her companions.

Naruto reached into one of his many hidden pouches as he watched Hinata approach, producing a small bottle of a dark green liquid, passing it to the girl once she reached them. Wordlessly, she popped the cork out and downed the concoction, shuddering at the taste. "I love the effect of these things, but cant you make them taste any better?" The blonde chuckled at her pout. "It's a very delicate mixture. If I ever find something that tastes better and won't cut the effect, I'll do it. Until then, bad taste is a small price to pay for twice the effect of a soldier pill, isn't it?" Ino leaned forward to see Hinata, adding her two cents. "You know, I actually like it. And to think, that's one of the products of my mother cramming all that extra knowledge of herbs into his head when all he wanted to learn was how to grow produce." Naruto sighed. "You know, that surprised me at first. Your mom knows more about poisons and antidotes than any regular civilian should." Ino looked up at Naruto, eyebrow raised in confusion. "Didn't mom tell you? Before she and daddy had me, she was the head of our ANBU hunter division and an expert in poisons. Most of the standard ones used worldwide were developed by her, or reverse engineered from hers. I think she said that her name in the Bingo book was Reina the Nightshade. She retired after I was born though, I'm not really sure why." Naruto could have sworn his jaw touched the floor, but before he could say anything, Hinata hushed them both. "The next match is starting.. It's Lee and that boy with the gourd."

Immediately, Naruto looked down to see that she was right, Lee was set in his strong fist stance while Gaara just stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking exceedingly bored. When he saw black out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Kankuro and Temari had made their way next to his group for the match. Instead of watching their brother, they were eying him instead. "Something I can do for you two?" Temari took that as an invitation for conversation and took a step closer. You're the guy we ran into on our way into Konoha, right? Gaara's been.. odd since we met you. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about you both bothers and interests him.

Naruto gave a mysterious, knowing smile. "And you want to know exactly what that is, hmm? I guess you could say that Gaara and I are brothers in circumstance. We're feared and hated for something that happened shortly after we took our first breaths of life. I'm generally a good judge of character, and I would be willing to bet that there are few differences in how we were and are treated by people who know our secret. In fact, the two biggest differences would probably be this," He raised his bandaged right arm, "and the companions I found early in life."

"When you say that.. You don't mean?" Naruto chuckled at Temari's realization. "So you know your brother's secret? That's good. After I calm the voice in his mind, he will need your support." Temari nodded, but Kankuro had turned his gaze to the fight. "That's all well and good if you aren't lying through your teeth, but I would worry more about that weird guy down there right now. Gaara's never been known to leave anybody alive."

While Naruto had been looking away, the match had started. Lee was in top form, even after his encounter with the sound ninja in the forest. He was surprised though. The gourd on Gaara's back had turned out to be filled with sand. Sand that moved of its own accord to protect him. Though Lee was fast, the sand was always faster. All of his attacks were blocked completely while Gaara stood the same as he had before the match began, impassive. From the other side of the balcony, where Kakashi and Gai's teams had been, Gai began to yell out to his student. "Lee! It's time! Take them off!"

After giving a short salute, Lee jumped to the top of a large sculpture of two hands set in the ram seal that stood on the wall beneath the screen that had been displaying names for the matches. Once there, he pulled off his garish orange leg warmers to reveal a set of chakra weights with the kanji for guts written all over them. Beside Naruto, Temari scoffed, having turned to watch the match. "What does he think dropping a little bit of weight will do for him against Gaara's sand?" Naruto shuddered, remembering the many times Lee had done this while they sparred together. "I don't know if you have them in Suna, but those are chakra weights. The more chakra stored in them, the denser and heavier the metal used to make them gets. Lee can't use jutsu of any kind, so he just pours all of his chakra into those damn things to train his body. I can usually come out on top against Lee in a taijutsu match when he's wearing them, but when he's not.." Lee dropped the weights to either side of his body, each making craters of insane size and depth for such small things. Temari's jaw dropped in amazement. "I don't ever stand a damn chance. Just watch, this is about to get intense."

True enough words. After dropping the weights, Lee practically vanished. The muscles in his legs had been trained to such perfection that he almost looked like he was teleporting when he moved, only visible when he had to stop or change direction. Gaara was being attacked from every direction by only one teen, and it was beginning to worry him. Every attack that Lee had thrown so far had broken through his sand guard, but had lacked the force to actually hit him. Even so, breaking the guard was a first, and he didn't like it. He began to manipulate the sand to his will, trying to catch the green clad neucense. Then it happened, lee landed a strong kick to the top of Gaara's head while he had most of his sand chasing him around. This led into a flurry of strong blows, ending with a powerful punch to Gaara's face before Lee decided to put some space between them. At first, it looked like nothing had happened, but then pieces of Gaara's face began to crack and chip away, revealing a manic grin beneath a second armor of sand before it repaired itself into the stoic exterior mask. "You hurt me... That's the first time anybody has ever hurt me.. Let me repay you.. By feeding your blood to Mother!"

Lee stopped after the intimidating statement, wondering just what it meant, when a torrent of sand erupted from the floor below him, forming a large hand that tried to grab him. He was grateful his reflexes were so advanced, otherwise that would have been the end for him. Deciding that this was getting a little too dangerous at this level, Lee decided to lay step his game up one more level. He unwrapped some of the bandages covering his forearms. In the stands, Naruto and the girls winced, knowing what was coming next. In quick succession, there were two bursts of chakra from Lee as he opened the first two of the eight celestial gates. Naruto could barely follow his movements as Lee delivered a heavy kick to Gaara's chin, launching the crazed sand user into the air. Lee kept kicking, lifting Gaara higher and higher until the freed bandages began to wrap around Gaara's body, binding him tightly. In a spectacular display of muscle control, he flipped them both upside down and began to spin rapidly, driving them both towards the ground with frightening speed. "Initial Lotus!" Lee let go just before impact with the ground, jumping away to leave Gaara laying in a crater in the ground.

Naruto shook his head sadly. "Not enough Lee.. He's slipped away from you." Winded from the maneuver, Lee was surprised by Gaara rising up from the ground behind him, that sadistic look on his face once more as the sand shell he had left behind crumbled away. He got his wits about him quickly enough to partially block a large wave of sand Gaara sent his way, but was still pushed into the wall, his body making a shallow crater on impact. Still he refused to yield. As Gaara sent wave after wave of crushing sand towards him, he either blocked or dodged, avoiding all attempts to corner him. After weighing the choice for a small while, he reached his conclusion. He would go all out now.

Standing in the center of the arena, he crossed his arms in front of his face, drawing out more of his body's true potential as his skin began to turn red from increased blood flow. "Third, Life Gate, open!" He dropped his arms to his sides, but continued to dig deeper as most of the room looked on in complete awe. Fourth, Pain Gate, open!" The green clad teens teeth clenched as the latest wave of power flowed through his body. It was time. All eyes widened as lee moved even faster than before, repeating his last move of kicking Gaara into the air, though this time he began to leap from wall to wall once his opponent was high enough, striking him with enough force and speed to suspend him in the air, cracking through the armor of sand. Somewhere in the middle of it all, a sickening, squelching crack resounded through the arena as Lee's muscles began to tear and snap from the strain on his body. "This is it, Fifth, Limit Gate, open!" With a heavy punch, Lee sent Gaara racing towards the ground, though not before wrapping the bandages of his left arm around his waist. The finisher was a swift tug on the bandages ending with Lee planting his right fist and foot into the redhead's stomach. "Extreme Lotus!" In that position, they screamed towards the ground.

Lee rolled away from the large plume of stone dust and sand that was kicked up by the attack, completely drained, while Gaara reached out towards him sending the sand under his control to grip Lee's left arm and leg. Naruto saw a bad thing coming and his eyes narrowed as he drew his blade, launching himself down towards the fighting duo, shortly joined by Gai. Charging his blade with Jinn's power, Naruto cut through the columns of sand latched to his friend's appendages, but he was too late. A pained scream issued from Lee as the sand clamped down, shattering the bones. Another wave of sand issued forth, and Gai somehow scattered it, both figures leveling dangerous glares at the sand user. "Gaara, I warned you about what would happen if you were too extreme. I plan to follow through on my threat.." His voice was deep and feral, and the look in his eyes would have given the mighty demons of old pause. He was distracted, though, by a shuffling behind him, turning to see Lee standing, completely unconscious. 'Lee, even when you're broken, you still stand to prove yourself strong. I swear I'll get this guy. He may not be in his right mind, but I'll drive his ass into the ground until he is.' While Gai tearfully tended to his broken student, Naruto kept Gaara held under his cold glare until he saw a flicker of something like regret behind the redhead's eyes. 'So Shukaku runs more wild than I first thought. This will end sooner than later, I don't want to imagine how ravaged that guy's mind is.'

Naruto watched that flicker grow into something akin to fear before Gaara vanished, reappearing on the other end of the stands. What he couldn't tell was if it was fear of him, what he did, or the temporary loss of his sanity. As Gai carried Lee off to the medical area, Naruto made his way back up to the stands, sheathing his blade. There was one more match to be had, and he had a fairly good guess as to who it would be. As the screen lit up once more, a cynical smirk crept its way onto his features.

**Aburame Shino VS Nara Shikamaru**

"Tch, figures that Sasuke would get the bye. Whatever, this match should be interesting. Two strategists of their caliber... I almost wonder if I could keep up." Though he may be clueless, for the most part, on human contact, Naruto was no slouch where mental facilities were concerned. Growing up, Shikamaru had taught him to play shogi and go to have a regular person to beat. He hadn't counted on Naruto actually picking up on the subtle nuances of the games though. Even though Shikamaru regularly won out, Naruto never failed to scratch that mental itch. Shaking himself out of the jog down memory lane, he stepped into his open place between his two kunoichi teammates. "This should be pretty interesting, eh? Not in the sense of big, flashy jutsu or anything like that, but just how far those two can think and plan ahead." Latching back onto his arm, Hinata nodded. "It's like watching them play shogi. You never really know which one of those two will come out on top." Ino gave a playful huff. "Well if it's going to be like that, can't we just skip this one? It could go on for hours, if not days." Naruto snorted, holding back a fit of laughter. "You know that's not true. Shika won't want to draw this out, and Shino likes to finish things up quickly when fighting."

True to form, the two combatants had plans within plans and countermeasures for every countermeasure. There were no flashy jutsu thrown around, Shino simply using his insects when standard ninja tools would not apply while Shikamaru attempted his kagemane technique every so often to no avail. At the end of their most recent round of fighting, the two stood near the walls of the arena, panting from exertion. Being friends of like mind, both nodded to the other in understanding. This would be the final tilt. Suddenly, Shino's insects, planted long beforehand, burst up from cracks between the heavy tiles beneath Shikamaru's feet in an attempt to hold the shadow user in place. Shikamaru had been expecting something like this, though, and hopped neatly to the side, drawing his obsidian blade for the first time this match. Shino's eyes narrowed, wondering what his opponent was going to do next. He wouldn't have an easy time of pulling it off if Shino had any say in it. Cursing silently to himself for having to showcase this particular move of his so early, Shikamaru dodged another wave of chakra-hungry insects, charging the dark blade in his hand to the brim with his shadow nature.

In the stands, Naruto smiled to himself, having seen this technique firsthand not long ago. "Looks like its over. Shika's got an ace up his sleeve I didn't think he would pull out." He said nothing further when the girls gave him a quizzical look, merely nodding towards the floor. Shikamaru had reached into his kunai pouch, retrieving several mini chakrams, tossing them to serve as a distraction as he ran towards Shino, blade held as if preparing for a strike. Shino took the bait, dodging away from the projectiles paths and towards Shikamaru, drawing a kunai to deflect wha he supposed would be a strike to his shoulder. He was surprised when Shikamaru flipped his blade around at the last second, plunging it into the ground, but even more so when his body suddenly locked up. Realization suddenly struck, he was somehow caught in a kagemane technique. Only able to move his eyes, he found Shikamaru's blade had been planted into his shadow. Breathing a sigh of relief, Shikamaru drew a kunai, reluctantly holding it to Shino's throat. "Checkmate buddy. I don't wanna have to knock you out, so blink twice if you concede."

Hayate appeared behind the shadow user, placing a hand on his shoulder. "No need, it's clear that incapacitation, or death would be simple from this point. Stand down." Nodding, Shikamaru pulled his blade from the floor, instantly freeing Shino. The two shared a friendly handshake as if they had been playing shogi instead of being locked in a heated match.

From his seat, the Third Hokage applauded before standing to address the room. "Well done to all. This match ends the preliminary tournament. Now, if all the winners would line up on the floor, we will decide the matchups for the final tournament in exactly one month. Time enough, I dare say, for you to polish up your skills a bit more." As soon as the remaining gennin were in line, Anko appeared, holding a box with a hole in the top. "You will reach into this box and take a numbered slip of paper. The person who draws the matching slip will be your next opponent."

The results of the drawing were thus: Shikamaru-Temari, Kiba-Sasuke, Naruto-Kankuro, And Ino-Hinata. Gaara would get a bye for the next round, to take on a randomly selected winner of the quarterfinals, or to be inserted in should somebody drop out at the last minute. Finally, when all was said and done, the combatants were allowed to leave the tower to rest and polish up their skills for the upcoming tournament.

The way back into town took much less time than the way in, and the traveling was made much more enjoyable for Naruto's friends as they made their way through the forest in a group, chatting companionably with each other, congratulating those that had won their matches, and suggesting ways to improve for those that hadn't. Close to the gates that kept the forest and Konoha separate, Naruto excused himself, claiming that he had work back at his place that he was eager to finish. As he slipped undetected through the city with practiced ease, he delved into his mindscape to find the three other presences awaiting him.

* * *

The next morning found Ino and Hinata at the carved door set into the tree Naruto called home. He let them in with a smile on his face, offering them breakfast before returning to his seat at a loom that had never been there before. He must have had clones here, working around the clock, because there was a wide bolt of heavy gray fabric issuing from the machine.

"Naruto, I know you like your secrets, but just what are you doing now? I don't remember you ever learning how to weave." Ino stood to touch the fabric and found it to be as soft and breathable as silk despite being to thick and heavy. There was a shadow of a sad smile that crossed Naruto's face before it was quickly replaced by his usual grin. "I had some of my clones learn how to do it a while back, I just never had the equipment until just recently. As for what this is going to be... Let's just say I'm preparing for the near future." Ino puffed her cheeks out in frustration. "Please! Enough with the secrets already! At least tell us what you're making.."

The blonde teen shook his head, chuckling at himself. "Sorry, it's a hard habit to break. I guess I can at least tell you what I'm up to. This cloth that I'm making is fairly unique in that I have twisted just about every genjutsu seal I know into the yarn. When I'm done, it will be a cloak that will allow me to keep a series of heavy genjutsu active indefinitely. The cost is time and the amount of chakra I have to feed each seal as I weave the fabric." The girls mouthed a silent 'oh' while Naruto stopped his work. "But, there's enough time to finish this before it's needed. How about we take a walk through town to see what the others are up to?" This idea was met with enthusiasm, the entire group hadn't gotten together in a social setting ever since team assignments, and so they left, Naruto placing a simple genjutsu over his tree to make it appear as just that. Their trek back into town was quick as usual, passing undetected through the gates and heading towards the restaurant that Choji's family ran. That would probably be the best place to find at least a few of their friends.

* * *

Outside of the gates, on a distant hill, a young woman with flame red hair watched the last embers of a camp fire die out. Taking a deep breath, she stood, looking down at her current attire. Just the other day, she had managed to sneak clothing out of the packs of a genin team who were camped out nearby, so secure in the land they knew that they forgot all sense of caution. Had they been any other people than those of her mother's husband, she would have slit their throats in their sleep. However, the cloths that she had stolen were a little small for her rather voluptuous frame, yet another thing she cursed her 'master' for. She knew it was intended, the way he spoke to her whenever he would make the odd visit betrayed a hunger he longed to sate using her body. He hadn't had the chance yet. That, or he was waiting for something.. She shook those thoughts out of her mind, there were more important things to worry about, such as the mission at hand. She had to run reconnaissance in the town her master wanted to invade in a month. With that thought in mind, she made her way to the gates in time to see a teen with sun bright blonde hair slip through a small blind spot in the gates defenses, quickly followed by two females, one with hair of deep navy blue, the other platinum blonde.

With some effort, she too managed to get by the gates unseen. Spurred on by curiosity as to who the three were and why they, like she, would need stealth to enter the village. She had taken too much time in breaching the gate, however, and had lost sight of them. Though still immensely curious about the three figures, she decided that could wait. What she needed right now was the general layout of the village borders. Anything else would have to wait until that was finished. Still, that hair brought her mother's picture to mind 'No, I can't get my hopes up like that.. There must be a lot of people with hair like that around here. Besides, Mother said that he died.'

* * *

In yet another part of town, an older ninja sat in silent meditation atop the head of the fourth Hokage, carved into the mountainside. his long white hair blown around by warm spring winds. He was thinking of one thing only, how to approach the blonde boy he had thought long dead. Whether the boy had any clue about his heritage, the man didn't know. It would seem that not even his sensei, Hiruzen Sarutobi, knew much more about the boy than he let on. Whatever the case was, it was his duty and his dearest wish to act the godfather that he was supposed to be from the moment Naruto was born. He would find the boy and tell him everything, and then they would go to Tsunade. She would be overjoyed to learn of his continued existence. Ending that train of thought with a wide grin, he patted the stone head he sat on top of. "Don't worry Minato, I'll take care of him from now on, village be damned. You've probably been rollin' in your grave at how your son's been treated up to now, and it's high time I kept my promise to you." With a grunt, he got to his feet, leaping from the top of the monument towards the village to find the boy.

* * *

All the while, Naruto and company were completely unaware of the goings on around them, instead focusing solely on the task at hand, catching up with each other. By pure chance, they had all gathered at the Monarch, the steakhouse owned by Choji's family. For several hours they had been talking about the missions they had been on as well as methods of training they had been doing. In such a public setting, Naruto couldn't reveal his deepest secrets to his friends, but he vowed that he would as soon as he could. However, he decided to throw another clue to Shikamaru, one that his cunning mind was sure to use to connect everything together. As he stood to leave, knocking back a final saucer of sake, he flashed a grin to the group. "Well, that's it for me. I think I'll take a stroll around town before heading back home." His gaze locked on Shikamaru. "I know I told you guys that I would explain everything when I could, but I can at least throw you a bone." Gesturing to the whisker like marks on his face, he continued. "Should I have taken on the traits of an animal since my birth, just what do you think that beast would be? If I know you well enough, Shika, you'll already have it figured out by now." Indeed, the lazy teens' eyes shone with a light of understanding. "Hope ya don't think less of me for it. Anyway, I have a feeling there's other things I should be doing today. Drop by and train with me sometime this month, alright?"

As Naruto left, everybody aside from Ino and Hinata looked towards Shikmaru, their eyes asking the question before their mouths could. Shikamaru, for his part, just chuckled. "Like hell I would think less of you for that. Sorry guys, I don't think I can actually say it. Feels like a taboo or something. You're just going to have to wait until he can tell you. But, damn, this place is even more messed up than I thought." Ino nodded, looking into her drink glass. "Isn't it though?"

It took very little time for him to decide what he should do next. Naruto knew that Lee would be stuck in the hospital, he was the only person in their regular group that hadn't shown up. He hadn't set foot in the building ever since his last public beating so many years ago. Unsure whether he would be welcomed in, he had asked where Lee was staying shortly before he left the restaurant. Luckily, it was one of the rooms with a window. The hospital wasn't like many other buildings of Konoha in that it lacked external security, so it was easy to walk right up the side of the structure and slip right through the window. There was a surprise though. Sitting in the room with a sleeping Lee was an older man dressed like a kabuki actor, wearing a horned headband with the kanji for oil displayed in the center. His spiky white hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, and he had two tattoos that looked like bloody tear streaks, one under each eye. He supposed that the man could be part of Lee's family, but there was no resemblance. What's more is that he was grinning at Naruto, like he had expected him to show up and was waiting for him instead of visiting Lee.

"Finally. I was wondering how long it would take you to show up kid. I was actually starting to think you wouldn't." The man's geta clacked against the tile floor as he stood and, to Naruto's surprise, dropped to his knees, his grin fading from his face. "You don't know how hard this is, Naruto.. I'm so sorry I didn't realize it sooner. You were alive all this time and what was I doing? Passing trivial information and peeping on women to write smut novels." Naruto was taken aback. He had no clue at all why this stranger would be apologizing to him for anything, much less things that didn't affect his life in any way.

"Hey, slow down. I think you've got the wrong guy. Nothing you're sorry for has hurt me in any way." He was interrupted when the other man spoke up again "That's just it! I haven't done a god damned thing! I made a promise! I promised your father and mother I'd look after you if anything happened to them. I was an idiot. When I heard the rumors that you had died, I bought into them completely, never questioning a damn thing. I never even considered coming back to Konoha, after your parents died and I thought you were gone, there was nothing for me here."

Naruto sighed. 'Yet another way this place worked against me. Denying me family from any source seems to give the village its jollies.' "Look, umm.. What was your name? Don't worry about anything, alright? I'm more than aware of the ill will this place has for me. Besides, my life hasn't been too unpleasant. Sure I had a rough time of it early on, but is there a jinchuriki that hasn't? I just count myself lucky that I have the life I do now." He put a hand on the man's shoulder. "The important thing is that we know about each other now, and that you can help me solve the one thing I still don't know about myself. Who were my parents?"

Jiraiya deadpanned, looking up at Naruto in shock. "I'm Jiraiya.. You mean you were never told? Not even by Sarutobi? You look just like your father did at your age, you can't tell me that nobody's ever noticed! I taught your dad, kid, I should know. He was the greatest ninja I have ever known. Your father, Naruto, was Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage. I know it's gotta be hard to hear, your dad was the same guy that sealed the demon into your body, but you have to know he had no other choice. As for your mother.. She was one of the most beautiful kunoichi I have ever known, and an heiress from the now destroyed village of whirlpool. The rumors were that she died shortly after giving birth to you while both you and Minato died during the sealing of the Kyuubi. Her name was Kushina Uzumaki. I can only assume that you weren't told about your dad or your real name to protect you from his enemies in Iwagakure, but you should have been told when you became a ninja. In the eyes of our world, you were judged an adult in mind and body that day."

For the second time in only a few days, Naruto was stunned. This was a lot for him to take in, but he knew that this man wasn't lying to him about any of it. The last pieces of his puzzle had been fit into place and he now understood everything. "Jiraiya-san, please stand up. This is going to take a little while for me to come to grips with. Also, I really don't know how to say this delicately, but I have a feeling that I'm not much longer for Konoha. There is something stirring in the world, and I have obligations to higher powers than this village to fulfill." Jiraiya noticed Naruto holding the wrist of his right arm when he spoke of other obligations, but let it be. For now, it was best to not push Naruto for information. "Kid, before I knew you were here, I had only come to look for a possible new student. After everything this place has done to those I considered family, I have no love of the place myself. Where you go, I'll follow if you'll have me." Naruto nodded, looking down at Lee who was still asleep.

Jiraiya saw this and smirked. "You know Naruto, there's somebody that can help him. An old teammate of mine, and a good friend of your parents who just so happens to be the greatest medic that ever came out of Konoha. I know you probably want to stay around here and train for the month, but I don't think she would come if it was just me. She hates this place for all it has taken from her. Just think about it, alright? Of course it won't just be a search, I would be training you along the way." He fervently hoped Naruto would agree to it, knowing that Tsunade wouldn't believe what he was saying unless he had hard proof. Minato's techniques needed to be passed down to their rightful owner as well.

"I'll think about it, that's all I can promise for now. I'm sure that our friends would throw me out to find this person, anyway, if they knew she could get Lee back on his feet." He nodded towards his friend. "His arm and leg are fragmented, you know? They say that shards of bone have made their way too close to his spine. Inoperable. If they tried, they think it would kill him." Jiraiya nodded, turning towards the window. "I read the diagnosis. Still, if there's anybody that could help him, it would be her. You know, you turned out far better than I could have hoped Naruto. I can't imagine what your life must have been like." With a wave, he left through the open window, off to give his sensei a piece of his mind.

* * *

Tayuya had nearly finished her survey of Konoha's wall defenses, so far going undetected. She was surprised at how different Konoha was compared to any of the other ninja villages she had been to. It was more like a regular town where the line between villager and ninja was often blurred. Ninja even had day jobs aside from their jobs as assassins, bodyguards, and information brokers. She could see why her mother had such fond memories of the place, knowing that this was the kind of town she would live in under other circumstances. She was jolted from her thoughts when she caught sight of sun bright hair once again. On impulse, she followed the figure, forgetting her current objective completely. She thought that she had been cautious enough to avoid detection, but when he stopped in a dead end alley and turned to see her, she knew that he had just been leading her to a place of his choosing. His appearance was striking, once again bringing up thoughts of the picture tucked away in her back pocket.

Naruto watched the redhead carefully, feeling no hostility coming from her. Something about the girl was familiar in a deep, primal way. Still, he didn't like being trailed, and would make that known. "Any particular reason you felt like following me? I hope you weren't thinking you'd get the jump on me like that." Tayuya, raised her hands defensively avoiding her usual tendency to retreat into her foul mouthed shell. "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you.. You just look so much like somebody else that I had to take a closer look. May I ask your name?" He looked so very much like the man in her picture, so like what she had always imagined her big brother would be like, that she just had to know. "Hmm, you must be from out of town if you don't know about me. The name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki." She could have sworn that her heart burst when the name was spoken, yet she kept herself outwardly calm. "Well, Naruto-san, I'm sorry to have bothered you. I'll let you get back to your business." She wanted to go to him, cling to him, cry into his chest, anything but let him leave without her. Instead, she turned on her heel and walked away, her mind reeling at the news. 'He is my brother. He didn't die. Mother will be so happy to hear that! I just.. wish I had met him under different circumstances.' Such thoughts occupied her mind until she reached her camp once more, burying herself deep into her other persona.

"Yo, Tayuya, you get what Orochimaru wanted?" The voice of one of her companions, the one with six arms, called out as she came nearer. With a nod, she produced the results of her spywork, tossing it to the large man. "Yeah, I got it. Just make sure you jackasses make good plans, I'm going to sleep." Without further explanation, she crawled into her sleeping bag and closed her eyes, wanting to be alone with her thoughts. 'If my brother is alive.. Can I really go through with this?'

* * *

Well, this is the chapter you've been waiting for. Sorry it's a bit short, but I had a hell of a time with it. Had to chip away at writer's block most of the way through. I'm not too happy with the way this one turned out. Seems extremely rushed to me and there's a hell of a lot that happens right at the end, so sorry about that. Things should be getting back on track now that we're getting back to where my ideas for the story come in. If this one really is too rushed, I'll come back and edit it to make for better reading. Let me know, alright? Hit that review button.


	10. Chapter 10 The Road to Progress

Well now, here's the next chapter of my brainchild. It's been a while since my last update, and I'm sorry for that, but my life went a little crazy these past few months. Nothing I can't handle pending a schedule adjustment or three though. I find I have very little to say here this time, so I'll just let you get to the reading.

* * *

**The Road to Progress**

Right now, Anko was not a happy woman. It had all began when she ventured out in search of the blonde teen who had removed the one thing that tied her to her former sensei. The problem was that nobody seemed to know or even care where he lived or what he did on his downtime. Of course, she could always try to coax the answers out of one of his friends. She doubted that would be a good use of her time though, the Hokage did say that they were a very tight knit group. Then there where the whispers. Normally, she could handle them, but over the course of the day they reached an all time high. As soon as the word was out among the population that the 'Snake Whore' was looking for the 'Demon Boy', the rumors began to spread like wildfire, warping and twisting to the point that they talked about how they were in bed with each other every night. Still, she was a kunoichi and maintained her composure. What was really irritating her was the fact that the idea didn't seem all that bad. She had to keep reminding herself that Naruto was younger than she was, and still a gennin for the time being.

When she finally came across the object of her search, she had nearly forgotten why she was looking. There he was, sitting at a ramen stall, talking casually to the pretty woman behind the counter. Deciding against a flashy entrance, she just pushed the curtain of the stall aside and took a seat next to the blonde. "You know, Naruto, you're a hard person to find. I've been looking since daybreak." He shrugged, stacking his empty bowl on top of three others. "You only found me because I wanted to be found. What can I do for you Anko-san? I'm sure you wouldn't have searched so diligently if it was just a social call."

Anko let out a small laugh. "Perceptive, aren't we? If you don't make chuunin, I'll be shocked. I just wanted to talk about what happened in the forest. Specifically, what happened when you touched the mark on my neck." She looked around nervously, the same mark being one of the few things that kept some of her fellow ninja from attacking her. "Can we talk somewhere more private?" A nod from Naruto was all she got before he dropped payment for his meal on the counter top and stood up. "Your place or mine?" Anko looked up in thought. "Well, I tend to live out in the tower in the forest. Is your place closer?" Naruto gave a short chuckle. "Maybe not closer, but it is a little easier to get to. There's one stipulation though. You can't tell a soul where I live. It is secret, it is safe, and all for a damn good reason." Anko nodded. Of course she understood why he was guarded about that. It was the very same reason she moved out into the tower, to get away from Konoha's general population and their hatred of anything they didn't think fit in their perfect society. "All right then, let's go."

Needless to say, Anko was impressed at how Naruto could easily slip through the gates without alerting the guards, if a little confused as to why he was leaving Konoha. All was made clear mere minutes later, though, once they reached his tree and he dropped the genjutsu he had cast before leaving. Upon entering and shutting the door, there was a solid click as a heavy steel deadbolt slid into place automatically. "Now then, we should be safe to talk here. Have a seat Anko-san." She did as instructed, occupying one of the seats around the table in the center of the room. Naruto merely leaned against the wall. "I suppose you want to know what I was talking about in the forest before I ran off, am I right?" A nod from his guest was his only answer. "Well, it gets a little complicated. In my younger years, I took hold of a legendary sword. One you may know as the Sword of Mana." Here he unwrapped the bandages from around his arm, showing the intricate metal gauntlet. "Since it was weak and couldn't hold its true form, it instead latched onto my arm, to feed off of my residual chakra and gain strength. In turn, I gained control of the blade, and later, three of the primal elemental spirits."

"Alright, I get it, you picked up some powerful thing. How does this relate to that Thanatos thing you were mumbling about?" Naruto sighed. "If you would let me continue Anko-san, then I would tell you." The jounin had the good grace to look embarrassed at her own impatience as Naruto continued. "Thanatos is something like the echo of the power of the Tree. If Mana were to be considered 'holy' than Thanatos would be its opposite 'evil'. I'm not sure how, but that seal contains the power of Thanatos which corrupts and changes the mind and body to better suit itself. Normally, this wouldn't be held back by anything, but that seal changes things. It seems to react to certain drives that Thanatos resonates with, things like rage, pride, sorrow, and greed, and allows the seal to spread." Anko nodded, though the new information was a little much to wrap her mind around completely when she had no prior knowledge of the existence of such forces, everything seemed to add up.

"So, when you touched the seal, you destroyed it?" Now it was Naruto's turn to be confused. "Destroyed? I don't remember doing anything like that. When I tried to break Sasuke's seal, I could only force it to retreat. If yours broke from just a simple touch, it must have been weak. Orochimaru must still be working on the seals to make them more powerful. That doesn't bode well for anybody." Near the end of his tirade, the blonde began speaking more to himself than to her, but Anko didn't really care. All she knew was that this boy had removed a horrible thing from her body, and, even if he hadn't meant to, she owed him with her very life. For now though, she would say nothing and support him from the shadows. From everything she had gathered, Naruto was cautious to a fault, examining every little detail about a person's actions to see if he could trust them or not. She would bide her time until she could prove her new loyalty. She stood, straightening her long coat, and flashed a grin towards the boy. "Well, it's been a nice chat and all, but I've gotta go run my regular patrols now. Don't be a stranger, Naruto. We've got more in common than you know." With that, she unbolted the door and left, leaving Naruto to ponder the meaning behind her words.

The next week passed by without much event. Naruto went about his business in the village as usual, training and socializing with his friends, working out his designs in the forge, and further sharpening his control over the powerful spirits within his body when he could get away from prying eyes. It wasn't until the final morning of that week that Jiraiya showed up at Naruto's tree while he was meditating just outside. The blonde cracked one blue eye open to register who his intruder was. "I was wondering when you were going to show up. Let me guess, you used jii-san's ball to find me? Doesn't matter." He stood up, dusting himself off. Jiraiya cracked a grin, walking closer. "Got me in one. Look Naruto, I've managed to find the person who can help your buddy through my spy network. If we want to catch her, we have to go now though. I've already cleared everything with the old man, but I won't force you to come along." To his surprise, the boy scoffed, reaching behind his back to produce a single storage scroll. "You're kidding right? I already told you that my friends would have thrown me out of the village if they knew I was the best chance of bringing this person back to help Lee out. I've just been waiting for you until you decided to show up. We have two weeks to get her and bring her back, right? Just how far away is she?" Jiraiya adjusted the shoulder strap of the pack he was carrying, making a mental calculation. "She's in a village not but four days away if we move at a decent clip. True to her MO, she should stay there until we catch up. She's probably gambling away."

* * *

Somewhere in a town as near as she would go to Konoha, a certain busty pig-tailed blonde beauty stared in awe at the pachinko machine she had been playing for less than ten minutes. She had just hit a huge jackpot, but such windfalls never gave her any comfort. With her luck, a jackpot was always followed by some kind of trouble, usually from her past. She would have to gather her traveling companion and get out of town as fast as possible... just one more game first.

* * *

"So, you said you wanted to show me a few things while we traveled?" Jiraiya looked over at Naruto who had spoken up for the first time since they left his place. It had been hours, and the man had been moving at a speed he wasn't sure the blonde could keep up with for long, but he was surprised again as Naruto kept stride with him without batting an eye. "Yeah, it's a technique your pops developed while he was still studying under me. He called it the rasengan." Deciding that they had made good enough time so far, he stopped suddenly and turned to his godson. "It's a technique that requires no handseals, just pure chakra control. All you have to do, really, is gather a mass of chakra in your hand like so.." He held out his hand, palm up, and Naruto felt the surge of chakra before he saw it. Suspended above Jiraiya's palm was a sphere of pure chakra, tightly compressed and churning erratically. Turning towards the tree they had stopped by, Jiraiya slammed the sphere into the trunk, drilling a clean hole through until it dissipated. "As you can see, it's a brutal attack, though built more for head on confrontation than stealth assassination." With a grin, he turned back towards the way they were headed, looking over his shoulder. "See if you can figure it out for yourself. I'll give you a hint if you need it." Naruto did nothing but smirk as he and the older man ran off again. 'Well, this promises to be an interesting trip. But that ability.. Depending on how I mold it, it could have other purposes. I won't really know until I figure it out and break it apart.'

* * *

Konoha was quiet those two weeks. Though Naruto knew he would be leaving, he hadn't left a message behind for his friends. This led to a fairly amusing full scale search for the blonde the first day, encompassing Naruto's friends, Haku, Zabuza, and the Ichiraku family. Zabuza running through town in a panic was a sight to see, but to see the usually composed Haku doing much the same brought on hysterics. It wasn't until late in the night that Sarutobi surfaced from his mountain of paperwork for long enough to realize what was going on and call the lot of them in to calm them down.

The old man cleared his throat after taking a deep pull from his pipe, looking over the group standing before him. "What is this I hear about you all searching for Naruto and causing a general ruckus in town? Didn't he let you know he'd be off with Jiraiya for two weeks? Those two are going to retrieve a wandering Konoha kunoichi who should be able to help Lee-san. I'm sure that man just wanted to take Naruto along to train him." Tenten perked up at that news, having idolized the Sannin for as long as she could remember. "Wait, you mean the Toad Sage Jiraiya? If they would be finding anybody then, it would be the legendary Med-nin, Tsunade-sama! Oooh, he's so lucky, getting to meet two of the sannin like that!" Ino merely sighed, putting an arm around Hinata's shoulders. "Looks like he left us out of the loop yet again.." The dark haired girl giggled to herself. "Now, now Ino. He won't change over night. He's so used to his secrets that he just can't help himself sometimes. He is trying though." She then turned towards the former Kiri ninja with a smile. "Zabuza-san, Haku-chan, could Ino and I trouble you to help us train? Asuma-sensei is out doing a mission of his own, and Naruto is going to be away for a while. It would be nice to have somebody strong to train with, and it would be good to catch up. I don't think we've been able to talk much since Wave."

Zabuza grunted in response, turning around towards the door. "I've got a class of brats to teach during the day, but I'm sure Haku could help you out while I'm busy. If I have time, I'll probably show up and lend a hand. Besides, I've still got to get a feel for Namiken. Kid was right, she's like a whole different blade now that he's fixed her up." Haku shook her head as Zabuza walked out. "I don't know what it is with swordsmen and their blades.. Why must they have a gender when they refer to them?" She reached for her ANBU mask she had at her hip, painted to look like a snow leopard. "I have to run patrol tonight, and it's too late to train anyway. Why don't we just get together tomorrow? Training ground 15. The rest of you are more than welcome to join us if you like." With that, she fit the mask to her face and left through the window, fading into the dusk. Those still remaining filed out in ones and twos, heading for home or whatever other obligations they had that night.

The old hokage watched the group in amusement. One moment they were worried, searching for their friend whom they could always find when they wanted, the next they were in relieved exasperation that he would leave on an errand with one of the strongest ninja Konoha ever produced to find a legendary medic. "Naruto-kun, you have some wonderful friends.. Konoha is beginning to move against you though. I don't know how much longer I can hold their hate at bay." He sighed to himself, looking down at a document that was a request from the citizens to have Naruto exiled and wished, not for the first time, that he could burn such things with a glare.

* * *

It was the third night of their travels, and Jiraiya was surprised at the strength he had seen in Naruto during the trip, even if he hadn't done much to prove it. It was just that, what he hadn't done, that proved his strength. Not once had Naruto complained about a thing. In fact, it seemed that he thoroughly enjoyed the challenges that the older man set, raising the bar higher every day. As he mused about this, his eyes found the boy sitting cross legged dome distance away as if in meditation. To say he had been shocked about what the bandages covering the boy's right arm had hidden would be an understatement. He had been considering ways to teach Naruto to harness the demonic chakra of the Kyuubi, only to find that he already could grasp at its' powers and decided not to unless absolutely necessary. That self confidence was so endearing, and so very like Minato that he couldn't help but chuckle. His eyes began to droop as he gave in to sleep, his last thoughts about what they would do when they found Tsunade the next day.

Meanwhile, Naruto had been hearing whispers again. He was beginning to get used to the sensation of a new spirit calling to him, but it was always in a different way. Hearing a light snore behind him that signaled his traveling companion having fallen asleep, he stood and ventured into the darkness and towards the whispers. Away from the light of the campfire, he found himself in a clearing only lit by the stars above, the moon having waxed new. Suddenly, the whispers stopped and a figure stepped out of the bushes directly opposite from him. It is a surreal experience to see yourself, even more so when you see yourself in another form. Before him was a teen dressed in orange and black, his hair short and spiked. The whisker marks that adorned his cheeks were dark and wide, his canines and fingernails elongated, and his eyes blood red with slitted pupils. Ever cautious, Naruto held his hand to the hilt of his blade.

It was his double that spoke first, his voice recognizable, yet distorted, rough and gravelly. "Heh, looks like things have gone alright for you eh? Good to know something's gone right for us somewhere." Naruto blinked, caught slightly off guard. "Yes, I guess things have been good for me. There's just one thing I want to ask. What are you?" The other grinned at the question. "Me? I'm what you could have been under different conditions. Specifically, if you had never found that sword. Want the highlights? I'm on team seven with Sasuke and Sakura. Wave was a disaster that ended in the deaths of Zabuza and Haku. I thought I was in love with Sakura. Oh, and the fox wants to devour my soul. I'm not sure where you are, so I'm not gonna spoil any surprises for you." The doubles' grin changed into something feral as he reached back into his pouch, producing a handful of shuriken. "But I'm not here to talk, I'm here so you can show me your stuff!"

Naruto drew his blade as his doppleganger threw the shuriken, managing to either deflect or cut through the tiny stars. His blood began to boil as the challenge was presented. Fighting against himself would be a true test. Where he had a style of fighting, both armed and unarmed, he found his twin to be an unpredictable brawler who fought tooth and nail. The other whipped his right arm out to the side, retrieving a hidden kunai stashed up his sleeve before pressing the attack once more. Naruto was amazed at his clones' control of wind chakra as he imbued such an unresponsive tool with enough power to create a long wind blade much like Asuma did with his knives. Instinctively, Naruto did the same with his blade and the two clashed once more.

It would seem that Naruto was blessed with his unnatural stamina in any given reality if the one before him was anything to go by. The rasengan took so much control and chakra that any normal ninja would be worn out after two or three consecutive uses. This one used it like an expendable ninja tool although he did enlist the aid of a shadow clone to help form it. Naruto guessed that the reason for that was poor control due to the Kyuubi warring against his chakra rather than bolstering it like she did in his own body. He had just dodged the fifth such attack and the other showed no signs of tiring. In fact, the harder the two fought, the more excited and resourceful he seemed to become. If he saw that, he felt it more in himself and came to a realization. One that he shoved to the back of his head for now, this was an incredible test of his own strength, and he didn't want to waste it.

Now the match had dissolved into a taijutsu fight. Naruto was once again astounded at the lack of any true form or style in the attacks of his doppleganger as he slapped away what would have been a vicious claw strike to the face and retaliated with an attempt to plant his elbow into the others' ribs. The sheer feral ferocity of his opponent reminded him vaguely of his own Kido no Yasei. 'He must have absorbed more from his tenant than he realizes.'

The forest bore silent witness to their battle that night, each going toe to toe on a silent agreement to avoid using their augmented strengths. After hours, the two stood apart, winded but smiling. The sun was beginning to rise, casting a red glow across the sky above.

"You are strong, my shadow. As I grow stronger, so do you and vice versa." The other blinked a few times before breaking out in a wide grin. "So, you figured out what he wanted you to realize eh?" Naruto just chuckled. "Sometime in the middle of the fight actually, but I didn't want to say anything. I was having too much fun. I think most people are afraid of their shadows, thinking them to be evil, the dark side of themselves. What people fail to realize is that the darkness is not unholy. Every part of this world is blessed by the spirits, darkness included. Only the echoes of the world should be truly feared." The other nodded, holding his fist out. "Exactly. You and I are one and the same, even if we have traveled different paths. We will make our dreams a reality." With a grin, he dropped his hand back to his side, taking a relaxed pose. "Well, that's it for me here. Shadows can't stand under the light." As the sun crested the horizon, the other burst into black smoke which crept up Naruto's body and towards the gauntlet, forming a jet black stone in one of the indentations.

"Shade huh? That's four now. The tests will only get more difficult from here. I wonder just how long the other me has been fighting, he already had the rasengan mastered to such a degree." He held out his gauntleted hand palm up, imitating what he had seen himself do with a clone, sending the chakra swirling in every direction all at once to create the bright sphere. "At least I know how it's done now. Perhaps if I had the spirits add their power and adjusted it a little..." He mumbled his theory to himself as he trudged back into camp, finding Jiraiya awake and cooking a scant breakfast. The older man looked up with a grin. "Mornin' brat. You look like you've had a hell of a time. Been up training all night or what? You get the rasengan all figured out?"

Naruto sighed, slumping down onto the ground beside the fire. "Something like that actually. I've got it figured out, but it's actually doing it that I need to work out. After that, there's a theory that I want to.. to...." The world in front of him began to pitch and sway, its colors slowly bleeding away. Jiraiya noticed as Naruto began to black out completely, catching him before his head could hit the ground. "Hey, Naruto?! What's going on? Damn... this isn't good. I'm no medic. I've got to get him to Tsu-hime, she might know what's going on with him." Forgoing breakfast, and even leaving the fire to burn out rather than trying to disguise the fact that somebody had camped there, Jiraiya gathered Naruto's and his packs, threw them both into a storage scroll along with the blonde's sword. This he hid inside of his coat before he picked the boy up, infused the soles of his feet with chakra, and set off towards the village that Tsunade had last been seen in at high speed. 'Come on, Naruto, hang in there!'

* * *

Ino shivered in the middle of her meditation, an unusually cold wind for this time of year blowing by. It wasn't just that though. There was something that was making her feel uneasy, almost as if the world was shifting around her. Of course it had to all be in her head. Even so, she couldn't shake the feeling, and couldn't help but notice that her best friend and teammate had noticed something as well. 'Oh well.. Even if I'm not crazy, there's nothing I can do about it right now. I have to keep on my training, otherwise I'll fall behind. Naruto... you'd better not have gotten yourself in trouble when I can't be there to help you out of it..' Even more than just those two, most everybody who had a connection with the blonde felt the same chill run down their spines. Even the reserved Shikamaru or the proud Anko couldn't help but stop and wonder about the feeling. It was almost as if they were standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down into a deep fog, and knowing you had to jump.

Anko shook her head to clear the feeling. She had something that she wanted to know, still, and that meant infiltrating a tight group of friends. Even after she had spoken with Naruto, there were still things she couldn't quite read from his character, and, being the excellent kunoichi that she was, that irritated her to no end. She figured that the two girls on his squad would know him the best out of that group, and she was fairly confident that she would be able to gain their trust fairly easily, relative to the others. They weren't hard to find either. She and Haku had become fairly close recently, so she knew exactly where they would be training. There, sitting back to back, in the middle of training grounds 7, the two younger kunoichi were in deep meditation, working to increase their chakra control. Anko sauntered up to the both of them, sat down, and cleared her throat to get their attention. "Ahem, excuse me girls, I'm fillin' in for Haku-chan today. I've got quite a lot to teach the both of you." Hinata's and Ino's eyes shot open, and they shivered at the smirk Anko had on her face. This probably wouldn't end well for them.

* * *

"_What's happening to me this time? The last time I felt this way, was when everything began. I feel so, so tired."_ Naruto was floating in the black between consciousness, aware of his own body, yet nothing else. Something inside of him was changing, his right arm was pulsing strangely. **"Sleep now, my champion. You are doing well, but the tasks ahead of you require more than a human can cope with. Thus, for coming this far, I shall give you a gift. Seek the Jumi first, they can help you more than any other. The echoes are stirring, my champion, but I know you can drive back the shadows and bring about a new age of unity. The old world is not dead, but hidden away..."** The pure, gentle voice that spoke to him was music to his ears. He hadn't heard the goddess speak to him since that first day. Trusting what he was told, Naruto drifted further into the black, his right arm pulsing ever stronger.

* * *

Tsunade was rubbing her temples, leaning against the wall of her hotel room while watching over the spiky haired blonde youth currently occupying her bed. She wanted a drink so bad right now, longing to drown the day in sweet alcohol, but knew that she couldn't right now. So much had happened that day, all starting with Jiraiya popping up out of nowhere while she was winning at a game of cards for once. As if that wasn't enough to remind her of a place she never wanted to return to, in his arms, he was carrying what looked exactly like a mini-Minato Namikaze, begging for her to treat him for... something. She had no clue what was even happening to the boy, but Jiraiya was an old teammate, and she owed him this small favor at least. Throughout her examination of the boy, Jiraiya explained everything to her, right up until the point where he had found her. "So, you're telling me that Minato's kid survived, and that story about the Kyuubi crushing the hospital with Kushina her little one in it, was a lie?" Jiraiya nodded sadly. "Yeah, that pretty much sums up the first part of his life. Tsu-hime, what's wrong with him? One thing I know, he's coming back from training himself, the next he collapses. I know this isn't a case of chakra exhaustion, not with his.. conditions."

Tsunade activated her diagnostic jutsu for the umpteenth time that hour, using it to look over the boy. "I don't know Jiraiya. This isn't like anything I've ever seen before. He's not dying, but his chakra pathways are slowing down. For lack of a better term, it's almost like they are crystallizing. The strangest thing is, it doesn't even seem to be hurting him. His mind is an a state of stasis while his body endures these changes." Dropping the jutsu, she breathed a deep sigh. "It almost seems to be finished though. I would guess that he'll wake up in an hour or so."

Contrary to what she had just said, the blonde teen stirred, groaned, and opened his eyes to see three older people in the same room as him. He saw one familiar face though, and grinned at Jiraiya. "Heh, sorry I passed out like that. Guess you found the person we were looking for, huh?" He tried to sit up, but was held down by Tsunade. "Don't you dare try to move yet, brat. I don't even know what the hell just happened to you, but I'm sure you aren't alright yet." Naruto merely shook his head and propped himself up, feeling just as strong as ever. "Don't worry about me, I'm pretty quick to get back on my feet. Something feels.. off though." Now that he made a careful evaluation of his own state, he found that his chakra felt like it was pushing to get out. Not at levels that he couldn't easily contain, but it was still an odd change. "Hey, let me up. I need to test something out. I have an odd feeling I'm going to have to relearn a few things." Grudgingly, Tsunade let Naruto stand, watching as the teen stretched his muscles experimentally. 'He's far too much like Kushina for him to not be her son. From that confident, relaxed attitude to the way he can bounce back from something that could have killed him without a care. Minato was like that as well..' Lost in her thoughts, Tsunade didn't notice as Naruto began to gather a swirling mass of chakra into his hand until it was already too late. The compressed ball became overexcited, and exploded outwards, sending everything in the room flying away, leaving a frowning Naruto.

"Damn, who knew it would be like this.. Before, I just had a lot of chakra to deal with, and that was fine. I had just recently brought my control to a peak. Now It wants to flow outwards rather than me having to draw it out. If I let it flow too quickly, or too much at a time, it seems that jutsu become.. explosive..." Naruto cupped his hand over his chin as he began to pace in the scattered room. Jiraiya was the first to recover from the shock of the explosion and was caught up in the pose Naruto had taken, and the way he began to mumble to himself. It reminded him so much of his old student that it brought tears to his eyes, at the same time bringing hysterical laughter. "Well now! It doesn't look like you've been all that adversely affected by what just happened to you. Sure, you've got to learn a whole new kind of control, but think about the gain! We'll work on that while we head back." He shook his head to clear his mirth before turning to the other blonde and the other woman in the room, a dark haired, slim figure named Shizune. "Tsunade, we both know that you want nothing to do with that village, but will you return with us? This kid has a friend who needs your expertise if he ever wants to continue his career. I wouldn't plan on staying for too long though. From everything Naruto has told me so far, it sounds like the village plans to move against him soon enough."

Tsunade shook her head, sighing. "You should know better than to ask me that. You know damn well the promise we both made to his parents before that whole mess with the Kyuubi started, and I'll be damned before I break a promise to that girl. I won't like it, but I will go." She turned to Shizune who was holding their pet pig so that it wouldn't get in the way. "Get our things ready, we only have a few days to get back to Konoha before Naruto has to participate in this tournament." Shizune hopped to her assigned duty while the blonde turned towards Naruto this time. "Look, it's not very likely that you'll be able to effectively use your jutsu by the time you need to fight again, but I'll do everything I can to help you figure this condition of yours out. I have a feeling it's not quite what we think it is. Try this.."

* * *

As the few days of travel back to Konoha went by, Tsunade found herself becoming more and more fond of the boy. Somehow, without even knowing his own parents, he had inherited their particular charms. From his father came an aura of calm leadership and incredible ingenuity, and his mother, a carefree, indomitable spirit. How he had stayed sane throughout his life, especially with the burden of the Sword on his shoulders, amazed her. Naruto progressed with incredible speed, coping with his new chakra condition almost as if it was natural to him. He explained it as not so much drawing what was needed from a well, but opening a floodgate to let just enough through. His jutsu were still hit-and-miss, fizzling or exploding more often than they actually worked, but he made a discovery that pleased him while honing his sword work.

After finally managing to create on of his sturdier clones successfully, Naruto set about practicing his blade work against himself. It all began when he tried to push Shade's chakra into the blade to see if the effect would be like that of Shikamaru's shadow binding jutsu. However, instead of changing the tendency of the blade like the other spirits had, next to nothing happened instead. He could feel that the blade was full, due to his new condition, it had happened quickly and easily, but not even so much as the color of Tsukihitsume's glow had changed. In the midst of his frustration, Naruto heard Shade's dark voice echo through his mind for the first time since their joining. _"More.. Overflow.. Change.."_ Though little more than a vague suggestion, Naruto decided to give it a try. He had never attempted to overcharge his blade before for fear that the steel would react badly, but it was either that, or never make progress. With a silent apology to his sword, Naruto pushed as much of Shade's power through it as he could.

Naruto was surprised when tendrils of impossible black light wove themselves into his blade's pure glow, but even more shocked one he realized that he was holding a perfect replica of the blade in his other hand, entirely composed of some kind of shadow matter. _"Your new power.. Condensed chakra.. Pure Mana.. To gather is unnecessary, merely let it flow."_ Naruto looked from one blade to the other, an idea already forming in his mind as a pseudo-sadistic smile graced his features. The clone he had summoned to train against began to back away, hands thrown up in front of its body defensively. "H-hey boss.. I know that look well enough. Let's not push things, kay? Nice and easy, yeah?" Naruto just grinned even wider, slipping into what he felt would be a suitable stance for using two blades. "Where's the fun in that? If you were in my place, you'd be thinking the same thing."

* * *

Jiraiya had been lounging in a nearby tree, watching the teen try to come to grips with his changes. He had been worried at first, of course. Naruto had to relearn just about everything again, just to pull off even the most basic techniques in his arsenal. He really should have known better though. It was astounding how well the blonde could roll with the punches, far too much like his father in that regard. Just when you thought he was down, he comes back even stronger. The white haired man took a break from his thoughts, bringing a hand up to his throat after having watched Naruto decapitate himself quite cleanly, and reasoned that it was probably a good thing. He did, after all, have a destiny to fulfill. Deciding to avoid interference, Jiraiya headed back to camp to see Tsunade had already prepared food for the group.

Tsunade had been alone with her thoughts most of the day, mulling over the events of the previous few days. It was almost like she had reclaimed a small amount of her former life with the return of Naruto. Though Jiraiya might have known his father quite well, it was Tsunade that knew his mother the best of the two. Naruto was a part of her friend that she had grieved for upon receiving the false information of their death. That was the precise reason she had never returned to Konoha, opting to remain affiliated, yet never having any plans of continued service, or even a visit to her old sensei for that matter. She had been mulling these thoughts over cooking, something she hadn't done in a long while, when Jiraiya returned to camp, an oddly happy smile on his face.

"What are you so happy about? Been peeping on Shizune already?" Some habits were hard to break. Even after years apart, she couldn't fight the reflex to call her old teammate out as a pervert. For his part, Jiraiya just shook his head. "Nah, nothing like that. I figure I'm going to give all that up now. I wasted all my time with those books when I could have been doing much more important things... I was just out watching him train himself into the ground. It seems like he's getting used to things again." He took a seat by the fire in the center of their campsite, staring into the flickering tongues. Tsunade's eyebrows lifted slightly at the news. "Already? It wasn't but five days ago that he changed, and he's already got a grasp on it? I thought it would be quick, especially with us working with him, but I didn't think he would even be stable by the time we got back to Konoha." Jiraiya grunted and tapped his right wrist, then his temple. "He's got more than just us working with him. Remember what he told us? He's constantly talking with the Kyuubi and the Spirits. No doubt they know more about what's happened to him than we will for a while. I bet you were surprised when he told you he had already figured out your technique for muscle enhancement though, eh? I didn't realize just how keen this kid is on his goal, but he's studied quite a lot."

"That's an understatement. I've been working my ass off since I picked the sword up. I've managed to work my way through the entirety of the public library and most of jii-san's personal collection. You'd be amazed what just one shadow clone can accomplish while you work on the physical aspects of training, let alone sending a score of them out." The two adults by the fire jumped slightly when Naruto's voice echoed out from around them. His form melted out from the shadows of the trees as he removed his two forefingers from his throat. "Glad that jutsu still works, I like it far too much to have to leave it behind. The spirit's abilities are also far easier to use this way. Shade's got a pretty tricky cloak technique. All it really requires is a shadow of the right size." Producing a travel bowl from somewhere within his cloths, Naruto served some of the meager stew Tsunade had cooked. "Ittadakimasu!"

Recovering from his surprise, Jiraiya grinned. "Back already? I thought you'd still be out mauling those helpless clones of yours for another few hours." Naruto shook his head, wiping his mouth with a napkin he had produced from wherever he had the bowl. "I wish. I'm faced with an interesting problem though. The spirits, Shade specifically, have told me that what I have is now pure mana. As far as I can tell, based on Tsunade's diagnosis, chakra is a lesser form of energy. When condensed, like mine has been, it becomes mana. The spirit abilities have become easier to use because they had me creating mana before. Now that I have an abundant supply, it's less trouble. However, now I have to figure out just how much I need to eek out to not overpower a jutsu. Otherwise, it blows up in my face, quite literally. It's just a matter of getting a feel for things at this point, but I'm going to have a severe handicap at the exams if I don't want to make my abilities known to the nations. That day will come soon enough."

Tsunade was now beginning to understand the complexities of Naruto's situation. At first, she had wondered why he would want to keep such power concealed and operate only to the parameters of the mission at hand, never doing more than a normal gennin should, when he could just as easily finish a brace of B-class missions on his own. That was, until she realized what Konoha would try to turn Naruto into. Their own personal tool of mass destruction. Of course, it would never happen, Naruto had an incredibly strong personality that would probably never be broken by any amount of conditioning, but it was the bureaucratic heat he was most trying to avoid. It wouldn't do for him to be tied up in red tape with goals like his. She lifted her eyes to look at the teen in front of her. "If that's the case, than shouldn't you try to concentrate on physical combat? By everything I've seen, I can tell that you like to be well rounded in a fight, but now is the time to put pride aside and concentrate on what you can do right now."

Naruto nodded, resting a hand on the hilt of his sword. "That's what I've been doing, and something I pulled in the preliminary tournament gave me an idea. I had shaped a spirit technique to fit the mold of a B-class jutsu, and while training, I have realized I can do a new trick with my blade. I won't say much more than that, you'll just have to see what I come up with." Conversation from that point gravitated instead to comfortable subjects like the changes of Konoha in the past few years, and old, amusing mission stories from Jiraiya and Tsunade.

* * *

Hinata had been sitting on the roof of the guard house, chatting amiably with Izumo and Kotetsu, who were, once again, stuck on guard duty. Her body ached all over from her training the past few days. Ever since Anko decided to poke her nose into things, Ino and Hinata endured an extra four to five hours of training a day. Not that they were complaining, the progress they had both made in that time was astounding and they really had nothing better to do with their other friends doing much the same and Naruto away on his retrieval mission. She knew he would be back today though, successful. He had yet to fail in anything he had set out to do, so why would this be any different?

Her sharp eyes spotted four specs on the horizon, steadily moving closer. Four didn't exactly fit the number that should be returning, but she activated her byakkugan just to be sure. What she saw startled her though. Naruto had always been brighter than anybody else due to his various chakra pathways unique to only him. When she looked at him now though, it was almost blinding, almost as if he had become a solid mass of chakra. She would definitely have to press him for information when she could, but that could wait. Standing, she blew a sharp whistle to Ino, who was currently occupied assuring an overconfident civilian that she was taken, and that her man could floor him without a second thought. Grateful for the distraction, she turned away, jumping up to her partner, and shielded her eyes from the sun. "Is that them? Looks like Naruto did what he set out to do."

Ino hopped back down to the ground, flashing a cute smile to the ninja who seemed perpetually shafted with guard duty. "Boys, it looks like our group has arrived. We'll be going out to greet them." Not caring enough to argue, both men simply nodded and motioned to the gate before resuming whatever conversation they had been having at the time. Ino hurried to catch up with Hinata who had headed off as soon as she told Ino who was coming.

Konoha in view, more so his forest, Naruto smiled. It was good to get away from the hassle of a town that scorned him, but it was home at the same time. All he loved was there. Speaking of that.. He sniffed the air with enhanced senses, yet another experiment with mana he found worked quite well. "Hinata and Ino.. Impatient girls. Looks like they saw us coming." Jiraiya shielded his eyes from the sun as he saw two figures moving towards them rather quickly. "The two girls on your team? A Hyuuga and a Yamanaka was it? Quite the spread of ability there." Naruto simply grunted in reply, stopping in his tracks in preparation for what he knew was coming. Not six seconds later, he caught a ball of deep blue and lavender that was Hinata, followed shortly by Ino, nearly knocking him off his feet. "What's this? I've only been gone for a few days you know." He tried, and failed, to keep his delight at seeing them, and his laughter at the situation, out of his voice.

Tsunade stood to the side with Shizune, watching the trio with a smile on her face. However, it wouldn't to to keep stalling like this. "Naruto, I can tell you'll be busy for the rest of the day. I'm going to head to the hospital and see what I can do about your friend. You just make sure you are ready for anything tomorrow. C'mon, you're coming along too." She grabbed a protesting Jiraiya by the shoulder, hauling him towards the heavy gates.

Hinata surfaced from Naruto's chest, her hands having found the pouch he carried the potent healing vials he concocted and taken two, passing the other to Ino. "We're just glad to see you. Anko's been running us ragged the last few days." At Naruto's look on concern, she shook her head, realizing she should have phrased that a little better. "She's been helping Ino and I train along with Haku-chan, but an extra four hours a day with her right after Haku is just.. tiring." With that, she popped the cork on the vial and downed the dark green liquid, shuddering at the taste, yet reveling in the feeling of her body knitting at an accelerated rate. Ino, who had finished hers earlier, chimed in. "It seems like she's pretty interested in you though. She hasn't said anything directly, but we know how to read into things well enough. All she's let slip is that she's grateful to you for something. She's most likely trying to earn your trust through us."

Naruto clicked his tongue in thought, then shook his head. "I wonder.. I can't really tell you about Anko, that would be an invasion of her privacy. Sorry." Hinata nodded, things like this were common enough with Naruto. He never was one to let secrets slip when they didn't need to, and she wasn't worried that it could be an intimate secret at all. That's not the kind of vibe she got from the older jounin. "Okay then, tell me this. What have you gone and done to yourself this time?" At this, Naruto winced, and Ino knew well enough to look as playfully cross as Hinata. "That will take a bit of explanation actually. We do have the time for it though, I suppose. My place for tea, and I'll spill?" That answer pleased the girls more than Naruto knew. He was finally starting to open up to them completely.

* * *

Hidden behind a strong Genjutsu, another figure had seen Naruto's return along with two legendary Konoha ninja. Absently, she toyed with her deep red locks, conflicted once more. "Damn it all.. I guess it really was too much to hope for that he wouldn't be around when everything started. He just happened to bring two Sannin with him as well! Nii-san.. I suppose this might bode well for me, actually. This might be my chance." Tayuya turned from the ridge she had been observing from, and made her way back to her 'team.'

* * *

Sakura sat in the stands of the grand Konoha Coliseum, face hidden in her hands. Even a month after the fact, she still couldn't get over how easily Ino had beaten her. It had been a trigger to her psyche, something her inner voice had latched onto and continued to flaunt, constantly shouting "I told you so!" The object of her desire, Sasuke, hadn't even spoken a word to her after her loss. 'Did he really think I was that weak, or is he just busy?' That line of thought brought back a vivid memory of the day their teams were assigned. _"Why does Naruto get the two best kunoichi of our class on his team?!"_ Back then, she was just happy to be placed on a team with Sasuke. Quickly, painfully, she realized that he just viewed her as a body that was his grudging duty to protect while accomplishing their missions. Even Shikamaru, lazy and unmotivated, was leagues ahead of her. She was broken from her thoughts by the sound of crutches and somebody awkwardly settling into the seat beside her. She looked over to see Lee staring intently at the Coliseum floor. "Lee-san! Should you really be out of the hospital in your condition? You can barely move around, even with your crutches!"

Lee looked over, flashing his bright smile. "Oh, Sakura-chan! That is what the nurses had been telling me, but Naruto-san found an amazing doctor for me! He managed to pull the legendary Tsunade Senju out of retirement, at least for a little while. It was she that told me to come here." Sakura balked as she did whenever Naruto was mentioned, but kept her biting comments about the teen to herself. With reality as she knew it shattered, she was even beginning to see Naruto in a different light. "He went out and did that, huh? That's more than my own team would do for me if I was in your place." Lee frowned, an odd expression on his usually happy face. "I do not think that is true. I am sure both Sasuke-san and Shikamaru-san would go great lengths if your situation was like mine. However, if you do not mind my criticism, I believe you should take your duties as a teammate more seriously than you have been. It has been said, many times, that a kunoichi trained properly can be far more effective than a shinobi of equal ability. I believe Ino-chan and Hinata-chan are excellent examples of this." Spying Neji and Tenten a little further up the stairs, Lee stood up and hobbled towards them, offering Sakura a simple farewell. "Properly trained, huh? I definitely thought I fit the bill, but I guess not. I guess it's time I got my head out of the clouds and really started to work. But.. what should I do?"

Meanwhile, below the stands for the spectators, the challengers of the tournament waited for the rounds to be called. Just about everybody had arrived, aside from Gaara's brother, Kankuro. Naruto had a distinct feeling that this was on purpose though. From what he could see, Kankuro seemed wary, almost frightened of his brother during the prelims, so it would not be too far of a stretch to say he had forfeited early on to avoid the chance that he would have to go against Gaara. However, that was unimportant to the task at hand. He only needed to center himself at this point, and be ready for anything against Gaara.

Above the stands, two leaders of the ninja world sat side by side, awaiting the proceedings with mild anticipation. The old Hokage looked over towards his guest, the Kazekage, in mild thought. Something was off about the man, though he couldn't place it. Truth be told, he didn't know the man well enough to even tell if something was odd, but there was still that feeling. He always trusted those feelings. Ah, but now the crowd had gathered, and it was time to start. Standing up, he adopted a technique of Naruto's, enhancing his voice with chakra to make himself heard. "Welcome, citizens and nobles of the land of fire! Welcome, also, to our visiting dignitaries! Today we have several young, strong ninja to showcase today, so I hope you will all watch, and enjoy. Let the Chuunin selection tournament commence!"

* * *

Aaand cliffhanger. Well, there was quite a bit that happened there, and some of it may have not made as much sense as my brain thinks it does. Do let me know if I've any plot holes, or places that need clarification. I'll make sure to edit them up so it all works out. Until then, I really do like reviews. I really like constructive criticism as well. Feel like leaving either? Write a review!


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